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That’s right. We’ve officially expanded our reporting team and hired our a White House Correspondent, Luke Radel, who is now credentialed and reporting from inside the White House.

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This is a major milestone for our network and another step forward in our mission to hold those in power accountable and deliver independent reporting that puts the people first.

When he’s not reporting from the White House, Luke will also be covering Capitol Hill, traveling across the country, and helping lead some of the biggest interviews and stories we’ll be bringing to you.

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Hi all, Ben here. It’s Wednesday, June 10, and we have a lot to get through today. And first, a Happy Birthday to my brother and MeidasTouch co-founder, Brett!

Here’s what we’re tracking:

• Inflation hits 4.2% — highest in three years, and real wages are going negative

• Tuesday primary results from Maine, Nevada, North Dakota, and South Carolina

• Newsom endorses Becerra in the California governor’s race as Steyer urges his supporters to vote for Becerra

• U.S. strikes hit drinking water reservoirs in Iran, per the Financial Times

• Trump says the U.S. is striking Iran more today

• Trump in the Oval Office, rambling, raging, and claiming he loves inflation

• U.S. aircraft losses in the Iran War

• Hegseth and Laura Loomer go to Guantanamo together, which is a sentence I cannot believe I have to write

• The New York Times drops a massive Epstein investigation

• Judicial nominee won’t say who won the 2020 election

• Trump compares his crowd size to Martin Luther King’s

Before I go any further, if you haven’t yet joined as a paid subscriber, consider doing so now by clicking here to support our work. This is how we grow. And if you’re already a Meidas+ paid Substack subscriber, thank you for supporting pro-democracy media. We’re making this update free for everyone to read.

Let’s get into it.

Inflation Spikes, Trump Says He “Loves” It

Inflation jumped to 4.2% year-over-year in May. That’s the highest it’s been in three years, and it’s up from 2.4% back in February, before Trump started his war with Iran. Higher gas and energy prices drove roughly 60% of that increase. Shelter costs are up. Food is up. Restaurant prices are up. Core inflation, which strips out food and energy, hit 2.9%, its highest level since September.

Meanwhile, wage growth is running at 3.4%. Inflation is at 4.2%. That means Americans are losing ground. Every paycheck buys a little less than it did before. For production and non-supervisory workers, the people doing the actual work in this country, wages have effectively been erased back to February 2025 levels. The Iran War alone has wiped out roughly 15 months of previous wage gains.

Add in 7%+ mortgage rates and a 30% loss in the dollar’s purchasing power since 2020, and you start to understand why so many families feel like they’re drowning. This isn’t a vibes problem. This is a real, material squeeze on middle-class and lower-income households trying to pay for gas, groceries, electricity, and doctor’s visits.

When a reporter asked Trump this morning whether he was concerned about the inflation numbers, his response was: “No, I love it. I love the inflation.”

From “I will bring down prices on day 1” to “I love the inflation.”

Quite the shift.

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Tuesday Primaries: What You Need to Know

Four states voted Tuesday — Maine, Nevada, North Dakota, and South Carolina — in primaries setting up November’s midterm battles.

In Maine, Graham Platner won the Democratic Senate primary decisively, pulling roughly 72% of the vote. He’ll face incumbent Republican Susan Collins in what should be a genuinely competitive race in a state Kamala Harris carried in 2024. Platner’s victory speech was sharp: he went after Collins for voting to send taxpayer money overseas while hospitals in Maine are closing. On Morning Joe, he was asked, given some tabloid history involving his personal life, whether he could credibly call for Epstein file releases. His answer; consensual adult relationships are categorically different from allegations of child trafficking on a private island. The distinction isn’t complicated.

The Democratic gubernatorial primary in Maine remains unsettled, with Nirav Shah leading in first-round counts ahead of a ranked-choice tabulation. On the Republican side, Bobby Charles led with around 37-38%.

In South Carolina, Lindsey Graham survived his primary with about 57% — enough to avoid a runoff. The open governor’s race is headed to a June 23 runoff between Trump-endorsed Pamela Evette and Attorney General Alan Wilson. Nancy Mace, who gave up her House seat to run, got crushed, finishing around 12%. Meanwhile, Jermaine Johnson won the Democratic gubernatorial primary outright with nearly 60%.

In Nevada, Attorney General Aaron Ford dominated the Democratic gubernatorial primary with about 65%. Governor Joe Lombardo cruised on the Republican side. The key swing district, CD-3, saw incumbents advance comfortably.

North Dakota was largely uneventful, with Julie Fedorchak easily winning renomination in the at-large House seat.

Big News in California

Two major developments in the California governor’s race: Governor Gavin Newsom has officially endorsed Xavier Becerra, and billionaire Tom Steyer has conceded and thrown his support to Becerra as well. In a lengthy statement, Steyer wrote: “It would be a travesty for Steve Hilton to win the governorship, and Californians must unite behind Xavier Becerra to ensure he does not.”

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Iran Strikes to Continue

Iranian officials in the Hormozgan Province of Southern Iran told the Financial Times that U.S. strikes early Wednesday destroyed two freshwater storage reservoirs with a combined capacity of 2,500 cubic meters, water supplies serving 20,000 residents in the city of Kuhestak and ten surrounding villages. CENTCOM refused to confirm or deny.

Meanwhile, Trump was in the Oval Office this morning saying “we’re gonna hit ‘em hard again today” while also claiming we’re “really close to a deal.” He said Iran has been “playing us for suckers” because of “very stupid presidents” before him. He said Iran’s military “doesn’t even exist anymore.” And then he said, in the same breath, that Iran will “have to pay the price” for allegedly shooting down a U.S. apache helicopter. Iran is certainly causing a lot of damage without a military!

For context, here is a partial tally of U.S. aircraft losses in this war between February 28 and June 8: one F-35, three F-15Es, one A-10, one AH-64 Apache, one E-3 Sentry AWACS (valued at roughly $700 million), multiple KC-135 tankers, 28 MQ-9 Reapers, one MQ-4C Triton, two MC-130Js, several helicopters, and more.

When a Newsmax anchor asked Rep. Claudia Tenney what she’d say to Americans experiencing war fatigue, voters who backed Trump because he promised to end wars, not start them, her answer was essentially: well, we were in Iraq and Afghanistan for 20 years, so this isn’t that bad yet. Our own Ron Filipkowski noted immediately that this might be the single worst talking point imaginable, given that Trump promised this would be wrapped up in four to six weeks with unconditional surrender and regime change.

Pete Hegseth Goes to Guantanamo — With Laura Loomer

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth visited Naval Station Guantanamo Bay today, continuing a string of high-level U.S. government visits to Cuba. He told troops stationed there that “what happens with the future of Cuba is in the hands of the president.” He also brought along Laura Loomer, the conspiracy theorist and far-right influencer.

The New York Times Epstein Story

The Times published an exhaustive investigation Wednesday into the White House’s internal handling of the Epstein crisis. I’d encourage everyone to read it in full. Here’s what you need to know:

Trump’s senior team, including JD Vance, Susie Wiles, Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, Dan Bongino, Todd Blanche, and others, convened multiple emergency meetings in the White House Situation Room specifically to manage the Epstein fallout. The same room where Obama’s national security team watched the bin Laden raid was being used by Trump’s people to strategize around their boss’s connections to a convicted child sex trafficker.

Vance, according to the Times, was alarmed, and even floated the idea of getting Tucker Carlson to interview Ghislaine Maxwell in prison, worried that the cover-up strategy would cost Trump young voters. Wiles and Blair, by contrast, initially dismissed the crisis as fringe noise. Bongino, who left his podcast gig to join the FBI, warned them repeatedly that they were miscalculating.

Bondi made things worse at nearly every turn, like going on Fox News to suggest a client list was “sitting on her desk,” then distributing unvetted binders full of largely already-public documents to MAGA influencers in the Roosevelt Room. The White House scrambled to pull the influencers out before they could discuss what was in the binders during Trump’s press conference with British Prime Minister Starmer.

Bongino ultimately exploded at Bondi in a DOJ meeting, and later stormed out of a Situation Room confrontation with Susie Wiles. He privately called the whole situation “Trump’s Iran-Contra.”

The Epstein Files Transparency Act eventually passed with bipartisan support and was signed into law in November, once it became clear that it had a veto proof majority. The resulting document release referenced Trump more than 38,000 times. Flight records showed he flew on Epstein’s private jet at least eight times between 1993 and 1996, despite Trump’s January 2024 claim that he’d never been on the plane.

Trump’s own pollster, Tony Fabrizio, circulated an internal memo in March 2026 noting that “Epstein files” ranked as the sixth most important issue in focus groups, coming up in every single group and registering as “a real negative” with key voters.

The president spent the better part of a year trying to make this disappear. It hasn’t. We will never lit it.

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Other Stories Worth Noting

Trump went after Stephen A. Smith on Truth Social this morning, calling him a “low IQ individual” and “dumb as a rock” for apparently floating a potential political career. Smith recently criticized Trump’s decision to cause chaos in NYC by attending the NBA Finals.

Trump also said that he’s considering eliminating the Office of the Director of National Intelligence entirely, saying “a lot of people thought it was a duplication.” Separately, he is pushing to install his henchman Bill Pulte as Acting DNI, a move facing pushback from both Republicans and Democrats who have threatened to withhold their votes on a FISA extension. Trump’s response when told he needs Democratic votes: “Uhhhh. Then I guess something is gonna happen.”

Trump said he doesn’t know if he’ll renew the USMCA because “we don’t need anything that Canada has” or “anything that Mexico has.” Canada and Mexico, two of America’s three largest trading partners, are apparently unnecessary.

HUD Secretary Scott Turner was on CNBC this morning blaming undocumented immigrants for the housing shortage. Meanwhile, Senator Ron Johnson claimed on TV that Republicans don’t actually control the Senate. He said, “Don’t blame Republicans. I know they say we control the Senate. We don’t.”

Representative Kamlager-Dove took to the House floor to raise concerns about Trump’s visible health decline and the administration’s pattern of covering it up.

In case you missed it: Yesterday, Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA) faked a phone call for roughly 90 seconds after being asked by one of our reporters on the ground about Speaker Mike Johnson’s comments regarding potential Social Security cuts. The phone's screen remained visible, with his cheek inadvertently tapping different parts of the display. You have to watch this Oscar-worthy performance for yourself:

And finally, Trump this morning compared the size of his Fourth of July crowd on the Mall to the crowd at Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. He claimed his was bigger.

Thanks for reading. If you made it to the end, remember we are making a BIG push this week for the MeidasTouch Podcast! Lots of folks have told us they’ve been unsubscribed from the show by Apple Podcasts, so please make sure you are still subscribed, and leave a 5-star review if you can. You can add the show for free in seconds on Apple Podcasts and Spotify (or any other audio podcast app).

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… It was clear Trump orchestrated a plan with Knicks owner James Dolan to only have him shown to the crowd on the jumbotron once in the middle of the national anthem to try and reduce the number of boos. But videos captured the minute he was shown on the screen showed the crowd booing loudly, then they quickly took him off and didn’t show him for the rest of the game.

… The best video that accurately shows the incident was posted by WFAN’s Evan Roberts. I posted it on Substack, X, Threads and Bluesky.

… Trump also fell asleep during the game.

… Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA): “The president is not well. He has tremendous difficulty staying awake on the job. He has repeatedly fallen asleep at Cabinet meetings, at WH events, at a Memorial Day ceremony, and most recently at a very loud NBA game last night. The WH needs to explain why Trump keeps going to the hospital and taking cognitive tests.

… Real America’s Voice host Grant Stinchfield: “Brainwashed New Yorkers. Blind Liberal Millionaire Zombies boo Trump - the one man whose quest it is for every American to preserve and BUILD wealth. The minimum seat price was $8000 dollars. Who will be able to pay that if their socialist mayor gets his way. Insanity!”

… Several members of Trump’s admin attended the game with him. Jared Kushner bypassed all the lines and security as he breezed right into the arena. I posted video of that also on multiple platforms.

… Others in attendance were Kai Trump, Vanessa Trump, Steve Witkoff, Lee Zeldin, Howard Lutnick, Boris Epshteyn, Dan Scavino, Erin Scavino, Doug Burgum, Sean Duffy, Michael Boulos, Steven Cheung, Walt Nauta, Margo Martin, and (of course) the ever-present “special assistant” Natalie Harp.

… NYC journalist Sam Koppelman: “You have the most likable NY sports team in decades - and you decide to bring Trump, Lutnick, Kraft, and half the Epstein files into it. Glad Dolan reminded us all why he was known as the worst owner in sports. It’s on us now to transcend it.”

…But Trump told reporters after that he was cheered at the game: “You mean when they showed me on the screen? I thought it was very good. It was certainly amazing. I think mostly cheers. It was loud. And it was very enthusiastic.”

… Q - “Will you go to the next game? Zeldin: We’re busy with a lot of important stuff right now. Trump: Like a war.”

… Speaking of that, when you look at the timeline of events last night it is clear that Trump was flying to the game from Bedminster after US helicopter pilots had been shot down for about 90 minutes and still awaiting a possible rescue:

• CENTCOM: “At 7:33 p.m. ET on June 8, two crew members from a U.S. Army AH-64 Apache were rescued by American forces after their helicopter went down near the coast of Oman while patrolling regional waters. The Soldiers were safely rescued within approximately two hours and are in stable condition. The cause of the incident is under investigation.”

… But Trump’s comms assistant Margo Martin posted a time-stamped video at 6:57 PM ET showing Trump boarding the helicopter at Bedminster to fly to Madison Square Garden. So he was literally on his way to the game while the pilots were in the water hoping to be rescued.

… He has said previously that he didn’t like pilots who get shot down, so maybe the game was a bigger priority.

… Trump later posted today that they were shot down by an Iranian drone: “I have just been informed by our Great Military that last night the Iranians shot down one of our highly sophisticated Apache Helicopters while patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz. There were two pilots involved, both are safe and uninjured. Nevertheless, the US must, of necessity, respond to this attack.”

… Israeli journalist Amit Segal: “Trump has announced that Iran was responsible for shooting down a US helicopter last night, stating that the US must respond to the attack. ​I’m confused. Just two days ago, Trump demanded that Israel refrain from retaliating against Iran because their attack resulted in zero casualties. Why is there a sudden double standard when it comes to a US response?”

… Iranian Parliament Speaker MB Ghalibaf: “We prefer the language of diplomacy, but we speak other languages far more fluently. Break your commitments, and we’ll switch to what we speak best. You ride the horse you saddled!”

… ABC’s Jonathan Karl spoke to Trump later as the US launched retaliatory strikes:
"I think it's very important to respond. They shot down a helicopter, and we are responding as we speak. This is a response to what they did they did with our helicopter last night, and I believe the response should be very strong, very powerful, and that's what this one is."

… Right before this incident happened, JD Vance was on Fox touting a peace deal and total victory: “Let’s be honest. The Iranians don’t want this war to continue. It’s not in their best interests. They’re coming to the table putting some real things on the table. If we get this deal, it’s going to be a home run for the American people.”

… And Trump told reporters right after the game that a deal was very close: “Two or three days - we have a very good chance of doing it.”

… CNN reported that Trump has claimed an Iran deal was “imminent” 38 different times.

… Even Republicans are getting frustrated. Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) on Fox: “I’m starting to feel like we’re Charlie Brown and Iran is Lucy, and every time we go to kick the ball it’s taken away. ‘We’re close to a deal, we’re 2 days from a deal, we’re 3 days from a deal,’ and it’s not happening. If I were in Vegas right now, I’d be betting that in 2 days we’ll be right where we are today.”

… Fox host Jesse Watters: “Trump keeps saying we're very close, days away. I don't know what that means. We've heard that for a very long time.”

… Iran expert Gregory Brew: “Iran has demonstrated that it will fire on Israel to defend Hezbollah, it will fire on the Gulf if the US strikes its territory, and it will fire on ships that attempt to run the blockade in the strait. Iran does not want the war to continue, but it is also prepared for the war to re-intensify, confident that another round of fighting will produce a similar (and perhaps even more favorable) outcome.”

… NYT: “A key obstacle to an Iran deal has been Trump’s shifting demands and frustration with the negotiation process. According to mediators, Trump has been frustrated by his inability to speak directly with Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, and by Tehran’s slow pace of negotiations. They say he has repeatedly changed terms that his own team had already discussed with Iranian officials.”

… “In the first round of talks after the April cease-fire, Trump’s envoys—Steve Witkoff and JD Vance—reportedly proposed a deal under which Iran would suspend uranium enrichment for 10 years. Iranian officials say they accepted that framework, only for Trump to later demand a 20-year suspension, helping derail the talks.”

… “More recently, while negotiators waited for Khamenei’s response to a draft agreement, Trump reportedly added new conditions related to Iran’s nuclear program and access to frozen assets, further deepening Iranian mistrust of the negotiations.”

… Trump to ABC: “Somebody’s going to have to build all that infrastructure, new bridges, new this, new that, new power plants - they’re talking about a trillion dollars, probably more. That’s why we’ll probably get involved in rebuilding. But, we’ll get half their oil.”

… Yeah, I’m not an expert on the Iranian regime, but I don’t really think they are going to accept that kind of a deal. Just a hunch.

… Dr Oz was on Fox talking about his new Medicaid requirements: “You have to work. You were not put on this planet to sit at home and watch TV. The average person who’s on Medicaid, who’s able-bodied, watches 6.1 hours of television, or just hangs out, every day. That’s not why God put you here.”

… Gavin Newsom: “Wow. We cant believe Dr. Oz would insult Trump like that.”

… Rep. Jim Jordan held a Judiciary Committee hearing where he was supposed the expose the Southern Poverty Law Center after they were indicted by Todd Blanche for allegedly instigating violence at right-wing events using paid informants. Like most Jordan hearings, he hyped it up on Fox for days only to have it unravel into a total clown show when live witnesses were questioned under oath.

… I’m still not exactly sure why, but Jordan’s star witness was right-wing activist and Trump-supporter Alveda King, who appeared to know very little about SPLC except for her uncle’s affiliation with the org during the Civil Rights era. Ranking member Jamie Raskin attempted to determine whether King knew anything about SPLC:

• King: Do you pay the same people that do the bomb and then go comfort the people from being bombed? Do you pay the same people that do both jobs. That’s kind of fraud to me - it’s weird and chaotic and confusing.

• Raskin: I don’t think there’s any allegation that anyone who worked for SPLC bombed anyone. Do you have information to that effect?

• King: I don’t personally, but outside agitators did bomb our house in 1963 and they ran back and took off the KKK sheets and put on police things and ran up in the yard. It was crazy!”

• Raskin: That’s a statement about the racism of that police force working with the KKK.

• King: Hey, y’all pay both of them to do the double jobs. That’s what SPLC does now. You hire them to do the bombing then you hire them to fix the bombing? That’s weird.

• Raskin: You are asserting a lot of things under oath and you haven’t brought the evidence with you.

• King: I’ll get some for you.

• Raskin: OK, please. Bring us the evidence.

• King: I will.

… Rep. Jasmine Crockett was incredulous that Jordan would have King testify at the hearing when she knows nothing about the case: “White men on that side of the aisle are lecturing people of color on who is fighting for who. People of color do not feel comfortable or welcomed within your party. That’s why you have to parade someone who has the name ‘Dr. King’ attached to them, so that people can be confused.

… “I’ve been reading the comments online, and people are asking, ‘Who is this Dr. King?’ because you want them to believe that somehow she espouses who Dr. King was. Yet you’ve yet to have MLK III come in here. You’ve yet to have Dr. Bernice King—the ones who were actually raised by Dr. King, the ones who probably actually understand the teachings of Dr. King.”

… Alveda King has an honorary doctorate.

… Jordan attempted to question SPLC CEO Bryan Fair, but since the org is presently under a criminal indictment he was unable to answer most of the questions. He was able to answer this: Jordan - “Do you wish you hadn’t done the program? You said the program was successful, helpful, but now you’re stopping it. Fair: We stopped the program because we believe hate and extremism has migrated significantly online and in to govt agencies.”

Reminder there is no Bulletin tomorrow because I do my weekly podcast Uncovered where we do a deep dive into the top stories of the week. If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here.

Thank you again to everyone who read, shares and subscribes.

… House Oversight’s Robert Garcia gave an update today on his Epstein investigation: “Today we had Ms. Groff, who’s actually still testifying before the committee. She’s giving us, in fact, I think a lot of names of staff, employees, and folks who worked in the Epstein orbit. She worked for Epstein for 18 years, so she’s being asked some very tough questions, rightly so, about what she knew and who she scheduled

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Ok, here’s what we’re tracking right now:

• Trump attended Game 3 of the NBA Finals at MSG, got thunderously booed, appeared to fall asleep on camera, and the Knicks lost — ending their 13-game winning streak

• Markets are deep in the red: Nasdaq down nearly 3%, S&P down nearly 2%, Goldman Sachs and Barclays warning this isn’t a blip

• Trump says Iran shot down a US Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz, and vows revenge

• ProPublica drops a bombshell: an Indian billionaire targeted by Trump poured $100M+ into a startup secretly backed by Don Jr.

• The Epstein coverup rolls on as House Oversight Chair James Comer refuses to subpoena Todd Blanche

• The White House account posted a digitally altered photo mocking Hakeem Jeffries with a sombrero edited onto his head

• USMCA trade talks are expected to miss the July 1 renewal deadline, with the Trump team blaming Canada, of course

• Peter Navarro went on Fox and said every American should love tariffs

Before I go any further, if you haven’t yet joined as a paid subscriber, consider doing so now by clicking here to support our work. This is how we grow. And if you’re already a Meidas+ paid Substack subscriber, thank you for supporting pro-democracy media. We’re making this update free for everyone to read.

Let’s get into it.

Trump Thunderously Booed at the Garden

Let’s recap last night for a moment.

Donald Trump showed up to Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden as a guest of Knicks owner James Dolan. Before he even got inside, he was greeted outside by protest signs and middle fingers. The Secret Service locked down multiple blocks around MSG. No bags allowed, arrive two hours early, pedestrian and vehicle closures. That meant thousands of Knicks fans were stuck in long lines just to watch their team play, all because Trump needed to make himself the center of attention.

When his face appeared on the Jumbotron during the national anthem, the entire arena erupted. The White House pool report described it as being “thunderously booed.” CNN’s Hannah Keyser noted the boos for Trump were actually louder than those directed at the visiting San Antonio Spurs. You can hear the boos for yourself (again) here:

Then, mid-game, we noticed that Trump appeared to have dozed off during the game. By this morning it had been seen by tens of millions of people. When he wasn’t sleeping, he was reportedly eating hamburgers and pizza and French fries. The Knicks, meanwhile, lost 115-111, with the Spurs sealing it on two Stephon Castle free throws with under two minutes left, snapping a 13-game winning streak and a 46-day run that had included taking Games 1 and 2 in San Antonio.

After the buzzer, Knicks fans poured into the streets chanting against Trump. The “Trump Curse” trended across social media. Trump got booed out of the city.

Trump’s response was to repost someone named Nicole Parker USA, whose post said “NYC loves Donald Trump.”

Stephen A. Smith, who Trump took a swipe at yesterday, commented on Trump on First Take: “The brother wasn’t awake. If it was that important for you to be there, why did you look like you were asleep? Didn’t you call out former President Biden as ‘Sleepy Joe’? Well, what should we call you?”

Rep. Ted Lieu is asking the same question publicly. Lieu, talking to MeidasTouch’s Scott MacFarlane, pointed to the pattern of Trump dozing at Cabinet meetings, official events, and now the NBA Finals on national television and said: “The president of the United States is not well. We can see it with our own eyes.” He’s calling on the White House to explain Trump’s repeated hospital visits and why the president is reportedly undergoing cognitive testing.

Markets Crashing. Goldman and Barclays Are Worried.

The Dow is down over 350 points. The S&P is off nearly 2%. The Nasdaq is down close to 3%. CNN’s Fear and Greed index is sitting at 31, squarely in “Fear” territory. Goldman Sachs shifted to a negative market outlook, and market desks at both Goldman and Barclays are saying Friday’s sell-off wasn’t a one-off. They’re flagging crowded momentum positioning, weak market breadth, and higher-for-longer rates as compounding risk factors. Goldman separately forecasts interest rates likely staying on hold through 2026.

A reminder: Joe Biden handed this administration what economists called a Goldilocks economy. Inflation was coming down toward 2%. Multiple interest rate cuts were on the table. There was real capital available to fuel job growth. Trump blew all of that up with his tariff war, and now they’re scrambling to find someone to blame.

So who do they blame (aside from Biden)? Canada. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer went on Fox Business and cited Canada’s retaliatory tariffs as the reason USMCA talks are stalling and the July 1 renewal deadline will be missed. Retaliatory tariffs. Meaning, we attacked them, and they responded. It’s literally a South Park episode. When in doubt, blame Canada.

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Meanwhile, Peter Navarro went on Fox Business’s Mornings with Maria and told viewers that every American should love tariffs. He also warned that the country “should be in total rebellion” if the Fed raises interest rates. Because now that their own policies have blown up the economy and rate cuts are off the table, they need a villain, and they’ve settled on Jerome Powell running some kind of shadow operation at the Fed.

The Apache Helicopter and the Iran Situation

A US Army AH-64 Apache went down Monday evening near the coast of Oman, close to the Strait of Hormuz. Both crew members were rescued safely, and in a genuinely remarkable development, the rescue was carried out in part by a Saronic Corsair unmanned surface vessel, a drone boat, in what US Central Command described as the first-of-its-kind rescue operation at sea.

Trump posted on Truth Social that Iran shot the helicopter down and that the US “must, of necessity, respond.” CENTCOM’s official statement confirmed the helicopter went down and confirmed the rescue.

Weird, because Trump previously said Iran’s military had been “completely obliterated.”

A senior U.S. official told Axios that a military investigation determined that an Iranian drone struck the AH-64 Apache over the Hormuz Strait causing it to crash, though the official said the investigation had not yet determined whether that was an intentional action by Iran.

Separately, per a report citing an IRGC-affiliated news agency, Iran agreed to halt fire against Israel following a reported US transfer of $3 billion in unfrozen Iranian assets, flown from Abu Dhabi to Tehran via a UAE aircraft during Iran’s airspace closure. A Qatari delegation reportedly brokered the arrangement. The flight itself appears to be confirmed by open-source tracking, and a UAE delegation presence in Tehran has been reported by multiple sources. But the $3 billion claim remains unverified as of this time. If true, this would be a stunning and remarkable development.

This is the context in which Trump is running around yelling “deal in two days, deal in three days, the biggest deal, the most powerful deal.” Just stop. Either there’s a deal or there isn’t. The performative announcing of deals that don’t exist while actual military incidents go unexplained is not leadership.

The Epstein Coverup, Don Jr.’s $100 Million, and a Very Strange Hearing

ProPublica published a significant investigation this morning. Reporter Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott, and Alex Mierjeski report that Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries invested at least $100 million into an obscure Texas startup secretly connected to Donald Trump Jr., at the exact same time the Ambani family secured a series of major policy wins from the Trump administration: tariff exemptions, sanctions relief, and the ability to import discounted Russian oil and resell it. The timing, as ProPublica puts it, is awfully suspicious. There are dozens of stories like this involving Don Jr., Eric, and Jared Kushner. This family is getting paid, and Americans are getting left with the bill.

On the Epstein front, let’s circle back to Pam Bondi’s congressional appearance. Instead of answering most questions, she blamed Todd Blanche, said she didn’t recall, declined to answer anything predating 2024, and refused to discuss her communications with Trump or anyone in the executive branch. The logical next step is to bring in Todd Blanche. When Rep. Mike Garcia formally requested House Oversight Chair James Comer subpoena Blanche, Comer dismissed it. Rep. Yassamin Ansari responded directly: “James Comer doesn’t quite get that we are in fact serious about this investigation. It’s the most egregious cover up in American history and he’s happily enabling it.”

And then there was Alveda King, who appeared as a Republican witness at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the Southern Poverty Law Center, and, out of absolutely nowhere, began talking about chopping off baby penises. Rep. Jamie Raskin was present. There is no additional context I can provide that would make that make more sense.

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Social Media Trolls in the White House

While all this was going on, the White House social media team was hard at work trolling and posting more slop. They posted a photo of Trump saluting with the caption “Trust.” and “PATRIOTS IN CONTROL.” They promoted the UFC event at the White House on June 14th with AI-generated imagery and the branding “FIGHT WEEK. History in the making. BUILT. NOT GIVEN.” Nobody asked for this. Nobody wants a pay-per-view UFC event hosted at the White House. You’ve turned one of the most important symbols of American democracy into an abandoned Six Flags.

And then they posted a digitally manipulated video of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries with a sombrero edited onto his head, captioned: “Ok, anyways, we fixed the hat for you. Oh, and @POTUS knows ball.”

Grow up. Just grow up.

That’s why when I discuss these issue, I constantly say these are not inherently political issues to me. Oftentimes, it comes down to basic competence and common decency. This White House and its enablers have none of those qualities.

That’s it for now. Thanks for reading, liking, restacking, and subscribing. We’ll be back later with more.

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While the White House has spent months trying to bury the Epstein files, a small bipartisan commission in Santa Fe just fired 14 subpoenas at the people and institutions that allegedly let it all happen. They are going after Epstein’s own estate. They are going after the FBI and the DOJ. They are going after Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan Chase — the two banks that allegedly moved his money for years while women and girls were being abused on his ranch. They are going after state agencies, the governor’s office, local law enforcement, and a prestigious scientific research center that allegedly received at least $680,000 in Epstein donations.

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No political theater. No press conference grandstanding. Just a $2 million budget and a mandate to find the truth.

This is what accountability looks like when Washington refuses to provide it.

On June 1, survivors stood before the commission and told their stories. Rachel, who alleges she was abused by Epstein at his Zorro Ranch after being hired as a massage therapist, told the commission: “In 2019, when Jeffrey Epstein was arrested, I spoke out about the sexual abuse and crimes he committed against me. I am here again today in 2026 as a 52-year-old woman speaking out, trying to find truth and justice — and still no answers.”

Seven years. Still no answers.

Virginia Giuffre’s family was also there. Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most prominent alleged victims, died by suicide last year. Her sister-in-law Amanda Roberts called the commission’s work “an opportunity to finally turn the page from secrecy and impunity toward real accountability and real justice.”

These are not abstract political arguments. These are women. These are families. And they are still waiting.

They are not just looking at what Epstein did. They are looking at who helped him do it.

Meanwhile in Washington, Pam Bondi couldn’t find her voice.

Pam Bondi sat for four hours of closed-door questioning before the House Oversight Committee on May 29. She refused to answer whether Trump had any involvement in the handling or withholding of the Epstein files. Not once. Bondi was not under oath. The interview was not videotaped because for the Republicans their “investigation” seems more of a distraction than a serious probe into the truth.

After all, according to former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, their leader, Trump called Greene personally and screamed at her for pushing to release the files. She says he told her: “Marjorie, my friends will get hurt.” She says he told her: “People you know, Marjorie, people at Mar-a-Lago. They’re going to get hurt.”

Thankfully New Mexico is far away from Washington and has the courage and the legal basis to uncover the truth. Rep. Andrea Romero, who chairs the commission, put it plainly: the abuses at Zorro Ranch “went ignored here for over 20 years.” State authorities have reopened a criminal investigation that was closed in 2019 at the request of the DOJ. It searched the ranch in March. The commission has a tip line. They are building a referral package for prosecution.

They are doing the work that Republicans in Washington can’t, or won’t.

The acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, said in April that the Epstein files “should not be a part of anything going forward.” Trump told Americans to move on. The former attorney general took four hours to say nothing.

New Mexico is not moving on.

And somewhere, 14 institutions are about to get a subpoena from a state legislature operating with $2 million and no patience left for silence.

The survivors have been waiting years for someone to take them seriously. Four lawmakers on a perfectly named the truth commission, just did.

Consider subscribing to Dina on Substack to support her work:

Dina Doll

Legal Analyst/Attorney/Community Leader/Mom MeidasTouch Host & Legal AF Contributor/ I explain the law because the law belongs to us all

Dina Doll is an experienced attorney and legal analyst. She hosts the MissTrial podcast on MeidasTouch and co-hosts Unprecedented on Legal AF. Dina also serves as the legal expert for Access Hollywood’s Trial Files and provides regular legal commentary for CNN, NewsNation, and other national media outlets. In addition to her media work, she is a delegate to the California Democratic Party, a community activist, and a City Library Commissioner.

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… WaPo: “Trump is used to cheers at his highly curated rallies and events. But on Monday night he’s widely expected to be showered with boos when he becomes the first sitting president to attend an NBA Finals game. Online betting services also predict Trump will be booed in his visit to deep-blue NYC and the Knicks’ arena, Madison Square Garden.”

… “As an added frustration, Trump’s presence will create logistical hurdles for the roughly 20,000 other attendees, who have been told to arrive at least two hours before tip-off because of the enhanced security measures that follow the president. City officials have also said there will be no watch parties outside the arena for the thousands of fans who can’t get inside, breaking with recent practice.”

… The WH declined to comment on some fans’ frustrations and whether Trump was prepared to be booed. WH spokesperson Olivia Wales issued this statement: “President Trump is the greatest champion for sports of any president in American history.”

… NYPD announcement: “Tonight is Game 3 of the NBA finals – an exciting time for NYC – and we want everyone to be able to enjoy the game safely. With tonight’s presidential visit, there will be extra security measures in and around MSG that the NYPD and Secret Service have planned together. Starting at 4pm today, vehicular and pedestrian traffic will be closed from West 30th Street to West 35th Street between 6th Avenue and 8th Avenue.”

… “No one will be allowed inside the secure area unless you have a ticket to the game, a train ticket, are going to a business inside the area, have credentials, or have some other authorized reason to be there. Please allow extra time to get to the game and avoid the area around MSG if you don’t have a reason to be there. As always, if you see something, say something. Call 911. Go Knicks!”

… Right-wing podcaster Ann Coulter: “Of all the selfish, narcissistic things Trump has done, attending MSG to see the Knicks play in person Monday night is the absolute worst. 20,000 attendees will be MASSIVELY inconvenienced for all the extra security, the Knicks Watch Party at Garden Is canceled, thousands of extra law enforcement officers will be required (paid for by taxpayers), traffic will be a disaster - all so he can sit in the Garden rather than watch the game on TV.”

… Trump will sit in owner James Dolan’s luxury suite.

… Journalist Lee Escobedo: “Trump showing up to the Knicks Finals has an $8 billion explanation. And no one’s talking about it. The reason James Dolan invited him was that MSG sits atop Penn Station, and the Trump admin had the final say on a proposal to demolish the arena and relocate it across the street, with Dolan’s approval reportedly serving as a prerequisite for that outcome.”

… “So while real fans who bled through the Isiah Thomas era and the Eddy Curry trade are paying $9,000 a seat and getting TSA’d at the door, billionaires are deciding the future of NYC, the Knicks, and America in the owner’s suite. As George Carlin said, ‘It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it.’”

… NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani will also be in attendance. He bought a standing room only ticket directly from MSG box office for $1,000. As mayor of NYC he could have pulled some strings to get choice seats and VIP treatment. But he bought the cheapest ticket and will attend the game with the rest of the fans.

… Danny Abriano, editor of SNY sports: “This is a massive shutdown of midtown ahead of Knicks-Spurs Game 3 at MSG. Can’t imagine the pain it will cause local bars/restaurants in the area. And can’t imagine how difficult it will be to get through the security checkpoints.”

… Tommy Beer, sports reporter for Forbes: “Absolute brutal blow for restaurant/bar owners in central midtown who pay exorbitant rents for the privilege of being close to MSG.”

… Sports commentator and producer Bailey Carlin: “Insanely brutal shot to the bars and restaurants in the area. The parking garages too. The clown show rolls on however. Cart guys, bartenders who could have lived off tonight’s tips for weeks - so many people hurt.”

… Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox to the San Antonio Express: “I think the president being here just makes it inconvenient for everybody else. We’re getting screened like it’s TSA. It’s a little inconvenient for the people that’s got to play, but it is what it is.”

… There is also no pre-game access to the locker rooms for reporters for the first time all season, because Trump reportedly wants to go in to see the players before the game.

… Ryan Glasspiegel with Front Office Sports: “Source tells FOS that yes, ESPN/ABC plans to show president Trump during Game 3 of Knicks-Spurs tonight at MSG, in line with how they always show current/former presidents at sporting events. (Caveat applies - as long as he’s visible for the cameras).”

… Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins was on CNBC blaming Joe Biden for screwworm: “I do think it’s important to note that under the last admin with the massive movement under the open borders policy, that’s when it began to make it’s way back to America.”

… I’m not sure how that makes any sense. She claimed that a migrant might have brought screwworms across the border while Biden was president. Over 17 months ago. But they are just appearing now. And the average life-cycle of a screwworm is about 3 weeks.

… Rep. Shontel Brown (D-OH): “The Trump Admin cut funding for screwworm detection and fired 25% of staff responsible for tracking the disease. I’m embarrassed for the Secretary that her only answer is to blame the admin that left office a year and a half ago.”

… Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) repeated the new talking point on Newsmax: “This is another thing we can thank Joe Biden for - when millions of people came out of Central America they brought this screwworm with them.”

… Trump lost a massive court case today, with US District Judge Leo Sorokin striking down the $100,000 fee he imposed on H-1B visas in the case of California v. Markwayne Mullin:

“On Sept 19, 2025, Trump signed Proclamation 10973, which adds a $100,000 supplemental payment requirement to all H-1B petitions. The Proclamation and the corresponding Policy have significantly increased the cost of H-1B petitions, which, prior to the Proclamation, totaled somewhere between $960 and $7,595 in regulatory and statutory fees. Plaintiffs allege that they stand to suffer various harms from the new payment requirement:

• The Policy will impede their ability to hire educators for their primary and secondary schools, exacerbating existing teacher shortages.

• The Policy will negatively impact their ability to staff public colleges and universities and stymie critical academic research.

• The Policy will lead to a decline in H-1B medical workers, which, in turn, will worsen staffing shortages in medical facilities and diminish access to healthcare.”

… The court ruled that Trump’s visa fee is an illegal tax on businesses that must be passed by Congress and struck it down.

… NOTUS: “A Texas lawyer who helped lead Republican Ken Paxton’s defense during his 2023 impeachment trial is endorsing Democrat James Talarico in the state’s critical Senate race this Nov. Dan Cogdell is a Houston-based defense lawyer who represented Paxton in both the impeachment trial and a long-running securities fraud case. Cogdell donated $6,500 to Paxton’s campaign last year.”

… Cogdell invited Talarico on his podcast: “I defended Ken Paxton for years in the impeachment trial and in state criminal cases. But I think Ken has lost sight of his core mission, which is to represent the people of TX. And unlike Ken, I believe that you, James, believe in unity over division and that you know how to assemble not only Democrats but Independents and Republicans and we need that right now. We need unity, we don’t need any more division and that’s why I’m supporting you.”

… Talarico issued a statement: “If you voted for John Cornyn, you have a place in this campaign. If you’re a Republican tired of the corruption you’re seeing in govt, you have a place in this campaign. Even if you’re Ken Paxton’s impeachment lawyer, you have a place in this campaign.”

… Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) released a video last night denouncing Pete Hegseth: “I think it’s very unfortunate that the Pentagon has chosen to identify basically every faith group in America that professes faith in Christ as Christian with one exception - the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I find this offensive. It is repugnant. I implore the Pentagon to undo it. Secretary Hegseth, tear down that wall. This is not cool. Get rid of it! Get rid of it now!”

… Lee later posted at 12:33 AM: “I just got off the phone with President Trump. We discussed the Pentagon’s ‘Christian list’. I won’t speak for him, but I’m thrilled about where this is heading. We’re most fortunate that President Trump (1) loves Latter-day Saints, and (2) is our commander in chief. Stay tuned.”

… Fox host Jason Chaffetz: “Dept. of War needs to correct the record. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints truly are Christians. I happen to be a member, and first and foremost I believe in Jesus Christ. We are Christians.”

… CA State Sen. Scott Wiener: “Hegseth is now deciding which religions are officially recognized and which aren’t. This is in the context of Hegseth working overtime to make the US military a Christian organization. We have a separation of church and state for a reason. It’s unbelievably dangerous when the government picks and chooses among religions.”

… The Pentagon then issued revised guidelines adding Mormons: “The mistake has been fixed.” Another great national crisis averted.

… Hegseth did this intentionally. Many evangelicals believe that the Mormon church is completely heretical. Trump couldn’t care less about the whole thing and just told him to reverse it to get Mike Lee and others off his back.

… I will also note that Hegseth in one week created two new major political controversies out of an aspect of the job that should be fairly routine: He turned the D-Day commemoration ceremony into an anti-immigration speech and removed Mormons from the list of DOD Christian denominations.

Our newest DC correspondent, young Luke Radel, filled in for Pablo this week on Ask the Editor. Pablo is on a flight to Italy today. Luke just got the first interview with Hunter Biden since he opened his twitter account two weeks ago, which has caused quite a stir.

I answered your questions about the real reason Knicks owner James Dolan invited Trump to the game, what I think is going to happen, the various theories and conspiracies on both the left and the right about what really happened with the shooting at the Trump campaign rally in Butler, as well as a couple other topics. Link to the show is here.

If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin recapping the weekend, you can find it here.

… AP: “Israel and Iran traded fire early Monday in retaliatory strikes that threatened to drag the wider Middle East back into a full-scale regional war. It was the first exchange of fire since an April 8 ceasefire was reached. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed an attack on Israel and said Israel-affiliated vessels would again be a target in the Red Sea. Tehran had warned of retaliation after Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs without warning earlier Sunday.”

… “The Israeli strikes came in apparent defiance of Trump, who told Benjamin Netanyahu that he doesn’t think Israel needs to respond further. In his first comments since the attacks, Trump wrote online: ‘Israel and Iran must immediately stop ‘shooting.’ Two regional officials said concerted diplomatic efforts were

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Thank you to everyone who submitted questions for this week’s episode! To have your questions considered for next week, look out for Ron’s call-to-action in his daily news bulletins.

Read below for a full recap of this episode and watch above! Let’s dive in.

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Top stories today:

• Trump breaks his silence on the Israel-Iran war with embarrassing Truth Social posts

• Netanyahu halts further strikes in Iran after pushback from Trump, but fighting continues in Lebanon

• 35 Democratic Senators demand the legal basis for Trump’s War Powers claims

• Trump calls the LA mayoral primary “rigged,” because reality TV villain Spencer Pratt lost

• Trump ruins Game 3 of the NBA Finals for New York City

• New World Screwworm cases confirmed in Texas — MAGA blames Biden, naturally

• World Cup visa chaos: Iran’s team forced to stay in Mexico, African journalists stranded

• 150,000 protesters flood the streets of Tirana, Albania over the Trump-Kushner island project

• A federal judge strikes down Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee

• The Trump name quietly disappears from the Kennedy Center website

Before I go any further, if you haven’t yet joined as a paid subscriber, consider doing so now by clicking here to support our work. This is how we grow. And if you’re already a Meidas+ paid Substack subscriber, thank you for supporting pro-democracy media. We’re making this update free for everyone to read.

The War Is Raging

For weeks, Trump has been telling anyone who would listen that he holds all the cards on Iran. Netanyahu wasn’t going to do anything. A deal was right around the corner. It’s coming any day now. Then Israel struck Iran, hitting a petrochemical facility. Iran struck back, believed to have hit a facility in Haifa. And Trump went utterly silent.

Trump broke his silence first last night by whining about the California primary elections. More on that shortly. But it wasn’t until earlier that he commented on the chaos erupting in the Middle East.

Then, a few hours ago, he rushed to Truth Social and posted: “Israel and Iran must immediately stop ‘shooting.’ — President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

That’s it. That’s the foreign policy. Social media posts.

He followed it up with a second post declaring that both sides are seeking an “immediate CEASEFIRE,” that final peace negotiations are proceeding, and that the blockade will remain until, and I want you to note this, a “Final Deal” is reached. Maybe the quotes are there for a reason, because there is no deal. There has never been a deal. For 90 days this man has been telling us the deal is Monday, it’s Tuesday, it’s Wednesday, it’s basically done, and then something happens and suddenly it’s someone else’s fault. And for some reason, many in the corporate media fall for this stunt every time. We don’t. And we won’t.

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Yesterday, after Israel struck Beirut, a move everyone understood would prompt Iranian retaliation, Trump had the audacity to say a deal was about to happen on Monday, and then Netanyahu went and did this, and now we can’t do the deal. Ah yes, he was soooo close! (sarcasm)

Here’s what’s actually happening on the ground. According to two Israeli military officials who spoke to the New York Times, Netanyahu had been preparing a much larger retaliatory strike against Iran following ballistic missile fire earlier Monday and pulled back only after serious pushback from Trump. Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters announced a cessation of hostilities, but added pointedly that if aggressions continue, including in southern Lebanon, far harsher responses will follow. Netanyahu claimed he decided to “hold fire” because Iran stopped attacking, but warned that any resumption would be met with a powerful response.

Meanwhile, the IDF issued an urgent evacuation warning to residents of southern Lebanon, saying Hezbollah violated the ceasefire. Rocket sirens were sounding in northern Israel. Israeli strikes were reported in Tyre. The Trump “ceasefire,” everybody.

Thirty-five Democratic Senators, including Adam Schiff, Tim Kaine, Chuck Schumer, and Jack Reed, sent a letter to the White House demanding the legal basis for Trump’s claim that hostilities in Iran have “ceased.” They note that hostilities have continued since February 28 and never actually terminated, meaning the 60-day clock under the War Powers Resolution doesn’t have a pause button, no matter what Trump tweets.

U.S. officials flatly denied Israeli claims that American forces intercepted any of the Iranian ballistic missiles fired overnight. The U.S. claims it did not assist in Israel’s defense, though the IDF did coordinate with CENTCOM throughout the night. So we are simultaneously in and not in this war, depending on the hour of the day and who’s being asked.

The LA Election Was “Rigged” Because Spencer Pratt Lost

Here we go again. Decision Desk HQ projected Nithya Raman winning the second spot in the LA mayoral nonpartisan primary, and Trump immediately posted calling it a “Rigged Election.” He also posted that it was “Not possible for Spencer Pratt to have lost the L.A. runoffs after the big lead he had. 3rd World Nation.”

Spencer Pratt. The reality TV villain guy.

Los Angeles is 18.7% Republican. I don’t actually need to explain why the Republican candidate didn’t win. But here’s what’s truly telling: if the election was selectively rigged against Republicans, why is the Republican candidate likely to advance in the governor’s race? Did the riggers forget that one? Even Trump’s own U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles had to put out a statement saying the election is not rigged. Your own people, Donald.

Congressman Abe Hamadeh called for federalizing California elections. Florida Congressman Randy Fine went on Newsmax and claimed people are “literally dumpster diving for fraudulent ballots.” These people just make things up now. They wake up, open their mouths, and lie about every damn thing, and nobody on that side blinks.

It’s called counting all the voters. I understand counting is a difficult concept for you, MAGA.

Senator Patty Murray, responding to Trump’s unhinged interview with Kristen Welker, in which he stormed off after being pressed on his 2020 voter fraud claims, his face cycling through several shades of orange and red in real time — put it well: “He went from orange to red. While the President’s tantrums are absurd, his delusions of voter fraud are dangerous.”

Trump Ruins the Knicks

The New York Knicks are in the NBA Finals for the first time in decades. The city is electric. And Donald Trump decided he needed to be there for Game 3 tonight at Madison Square Garden.

Here’s what that means in practice. The NYPD is shutting down vehicular and pedestrian traffic from West 30th to West 35th Street between Sixth and Eighth Avenues starting at 4 p.m. You cannot be in that area unless you have a ticket, credentials, or specific authorized business. MSG canceled all fan watch parties around the arena. Five blocks, two avenues, locked down, so Trump can sit in a luxury box with the owner and another billionaire while the people of the city who have waited since 1999 for this moment get pushed out of the street.

He can’t sacrifice even a modicum of convenience. Watch it at the White House. Watch it at one of your golf clubs. You don’t need to show up and physically block New Yorkers from enjoying a moment their city has been waiting 25 years for.

Not to mention the amount of revenue businesses around MSG are going to lose because of the closures.

NYC Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani responded by organizing a free watch party for 5,000 New Yorkers at Bryant Park tonight. There’s currently a large wall around Madison Square Garden for extra security. Hey, Trump finally built his wall!

There’s also a photo circulating from a NYC subway station showing graffiti that reads “GO KNICKS / F*** TRUMP.” The people of New York aren’t shy about voicing their opinons.

Screwworm Is Biden’s Fault, Obviously

The USDA confirmed two new New World Screwworm cases in the United States, a calf in La Salle County, Texas, and a dog in Andrews County, Texas. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins blamed Biden. Senator Roger Marshall went on Fox and blamed Biden. Their theory is that migrants brought the screwworm up through Central America during the Biden administration’s “open borders” era.

It is June 2026. The screwworm is showing up now. So of course, Republicans blame Biden and immigrants.

Our Editor-in-Chief Ron Filipkowski has noted the pattern that everything that happens during the Trump presidency is the fault of Joe Biden per the GOP. Everything.

World Cup Chaos and the Iran Soccer Team

Iran’s national soccer team arrived in Mexico, where they’ll be based for the duration of the World Cup, despite playing all their matches in the United States, because the Trump administration denied them lodging and required them to leave after each game. FIFA accepted this arrangement. FIFA, the same organization that handed Trump a peace prize, apparently has no issue with a host nation forcing a competing team to shuttle back and forth across the border.

On top of that, Trump’s team denied visas to significant portions of Iran’s coaching and support staff, meaning the people who run the day-to-day operations of the team can’t even enter the country. Marco Rubio was out this morning announcing more visa denials.

And it’s not just Iran. The International Sports Press Association formally wrote to FIFA flagging that accredited journalists, including Iranian and African colleagues, have been denied or issued inadequate visas. African journalists with single-entry visas who follow their teams to matches in Canada literally cannot re-enter the United States. If you’re wondering how that wasn’t thought through in advance: it wasn’t. Maybe if you staffed this thing with people who had a basic grasp of how international travel works, rather than whatever is currently happening, you could coordinate a visa process for a tournament that spans three countries. A modicum of competence.

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Albania, the H-1B Ruling, and a French Presidential Candidate’s Verdict on America

Over 150,000 protesters took to the streets of Tirana, Albania, opposing the Trump-Kushner project to essentially privatize an Albanian island for 10,000 luxury rooms catering to oligarchs. The protests are being called a “flamingo revolution.” The European Union has also weighed in, warning Albania that waiving its environmental protocols to accommodate Jared and Ivanka could jeopardize the country’s EU ascension. Everything this family touches.

A federal judge, U.S. District Judge Leo T. Sorokin, ruled that Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee is an unauthorized tax on businesses and must be vacated. The judge found the fee constitutes a tax rather than a penalty, meaning it cannot be imposed without congressional authorization. The precedent he cited to reach that conclusion: the Supreme Court’s Obamacare ruling in Sebelius.

And finally, the Trump administration quietly removed the Trump name from the Kennedy Center website. It now simply reads “The Kennedy Center” following the recent court ruling saying Trump’s name needed to go. Our reporters are standing by near the building itself to get footage of the Trump name being pulled off.

Meanwhile, French presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, speaking this morning, argued France should align more closely with China, describing that country as “reasonable people” who are “not gringos ready to pull out their Colt every five minutes to exterminate whoever displeases them.”

That’s the reputation the United States has now.

There’s a lot more news to come. Stay tuned for Ron Filipkowski’s full daily bulletin later today and lots more great exclusive content.

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• Q - “Do you think anyone who attacks police officers on J6 should get taxpayer money? Trump: I can tell you this, 97% of those people, you look at them, the FBI or whoever it was, you had a lot of crooked cops. They had FBI agents ushering them in. You had a bunch of dirty cops. Welker: There’s no evidence of that. Trump: Try looking at the tapes.”

• Welker: “172 people did plead guilty to assaulting police officers. Trump: You know why they pled guilty? They were told they were going to jail for 15 years. They pled guilty because they were frightened. They went down and were ushered into a building. They had FBI saying: ‘Go into the building’. Those people are walking around, they’re looking, ‘Oh, isn’t this nice?’ You had a bunch of dirty cops and frankly, what they did was weaponization of our govt.”

• Q - “One of your consistent campaign promises was no new wars going all of the way back to 2015. Did you break that promise to the American people? Trump: No. Welker: You insisted no new wars… Trump: I didn't guarantee no war. Why would I have built the strongest military in the world? Welker: You said it over and over again.”

… CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale: “Not true. At an Aug 2024 rally in PA, he promised, ‘Under Trump, we will have no more wars, no more disruptions, and we will have prosperity and peace for all.” That month in NC, he pledged, ‘No more wars.’ In his July 2024 address accepting the GOP nomination, he said, ‘With our victory in Nov, the years of war, weakness, and chaos will be over. I don’t have wars.’ In his Nov 2024 victory address, he said, ‘I'm not going to start a war. I'm going to stop wars.’”

• Welker: “Gas is up. Diesel is up. Trump: It's all coming down as soon as the war is over. Welker: 70% of farmers say they can't afford fertilizer. Trump: The farmers are doing very well.”

… Farmers are doing so well under Trump that Republicans have to continue to do multiple billion dollar bailouts to send them our money so they will continue to vote for the Republicans who keep screwing them over.

• Q - “How long are you willing to give Iran to make a deal? You've been talking for quite some time. Trump: We really haven't. You were in Vietnam for 19 years. I won't even talk about World War 2, because that was the big one.”

• Welker: “Iran was the closest to developing weapons-grade uranium after you ripped up the nuclear deal because there were no guardrails. Trump: Excuse me. They were developing it during the nuclear deal. You don't know that? They got all the uranium under Obama.”

… A complete fabrication.

• Trump: “You cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon or they will blow you up. There will be no more NBC, no more Meet The Press.”

• Q - “Will any deal you make include the release of Americans who are being held by Iran? Trump: We’ll see. Nobody has an accurate list of who they are, what they are, or if they are being held. Nobody really has a list. You know that right? Q - Are you demanding a list? Are you demanding that they have to come home? Trump: You know the people that we're talking about? If you give me the names I'll do my best.”

… CBS host Margaret Brennan responded to Trump’s statement: “There are 6 Americans detained in Iran and KNOWN to the US govt.”

• On Trump’s claim that CA election is being stolen: “Just to be very clear, there's no evidence of what you're saying. Trump: There’s a lot of evidence. Listen to me. Listen to me. There’s tremendous evidence. There’s nothing but evidence. The election was rigged. And it’s happening again in CA. They’re cheating. Welker: Do you have evidence? Trump: All I have to do is look. Welker: That’s not evidence. Trump: They’re crooked. Just like you’re crooked. The press is crooked. Meet the Press is crooked.”

• "You're either crooked or you're stupid. You know these elections are rigged. Your network knows they are rigged. Let's call it quits. Because I've had enough. Thank you darling. Welker: I traveled all the way to Wisconsin for this interview."

… Trump then unclipped his microphone, threw it on the ground, stepped on it and walked out.

… Susan Rice on Bill Maher’s show: “Back in 2013 we began an effort, without using force but using economic pressure and sanctions, that brought Iran to the negotiating table. That resulted in a nuclear deal that prevented Iran from building a nuclear weapon. We took 98% of their fission material out of the country. Shut down their plutonium reactor. The IAEA had 24/7 intrusive inspection at all of Iran’s facilities. But Netanyahu urged Trump to get out of the deal - and what happened? Iran built up its arsenal - now they have 440 kgs of highly enriched uranium, enough for 10 bombs.”

… AP: “Israel said Sunday that Iran has launched missiles at it in the first such bombardment since a fragile ceasefire took effect in early April, complicating mediation efforts for a deal to end the war. Iran’s state broadcaster confirmed the launch of missiles and multiple explosions were heard in northern Israel.”

… “Tehran had warned of retaliation after Israel on Sunday struck Beirut’s southern suburbs without warning in defiance of Washington’s request days ago to stand down. Israel called it retaliation for the Iranian-backed Hezbollah firing at northern Israel earlier in the day.”

… Fox asked Trump his reaction: "It’s certainly not going to help negotiations. What I would suggest to Iran: You've shot your missiles, that's enough. Get back to the table and make a deal.”

… Trump was asked about Israel’s strikes on Beirut: "I'm not happy about it. I will call Netayanu now and tell him not to attack Iran in response.”

… That looks a lot of me like Israel may have tried to provoke an attack from Iran to try and get Trump to resume bombing, but Trump has no interest and has already surrendered and is just trying to get the best deal he can to save face.

… Trump then claimed that he was finally about to sign the much-anticipated peace deal with Iran on ‘Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, and now this has taken place.”

… Then Trump to Axios:

• “The Iranian strikes didn’t hurt anybody. Hopefully Israel is not going to retaliate. If Bibi strikes them back it’s just gonna keep going like the last 47 years, or the last 3000 years.”

• “We are very close to a final deal with Iran. It is going to be a good deal. I don’t want it to blow up because of what is happening now.”

• “I am going to call Bibi right now and tell him not to retaliate. Each of them had their fun. Israel had its strike and Iran had its strike. We don’t need another one”

… Iran’s military spokesperson: “Despite previous warnings from the Islamic Republic of Iran, the child-killing Zionist regime, by crossing all red lines and increasing attacks in southern Lebanon, has targeted Beirut’s Dahiyeh. We have previously warned: in case of the expansion of the crime in Beirut’s Dahiyeh, we will attack targets in the occupied territories.”

… “The Zionist army must stop its attacks on southern Lebanon and Dahiyeh, and in case of the expansion of its attacks on that region or responding to Iran’s action, it will face more crushing and regrettable blows and destructive attacks against the regime and its supporters will begin.”

… IDF Spokesperson: “The Iranian regime made a grave mistake.”

… Sounds like Trump’s ceasefire and imminent peace deal is going great.

… Jared Kushner on Lex Fridman’s podcast: “Why did you take $2 billion from Saudi for your private company? Kushner: “The money I received, I invested in Israel to build ties between the two countries, and to connect businessmen from Saudi Arabia and Israel with each other.”

… Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ): “And now he is negotiating for the US govt, or is it for Saudi Arabia or Israel? How can we trust he is negotiating to end the war with Iran when he is on the payroll of 2 countries that benefit from a war with Iran?”

… Dr. Vin Gupta to Meidas: “We need to understand why Trump is so sleepy for multiple periods throughout the daytime hours. That’s not normal. They like to wave it away by saying that he’s the chief executive of the country and therefore that explains it. I’m not so sure it does. His working hours are pretty limited, based on the WH schedule that’s been reported. He is falling asleep in front of the camera repeatedly.”

… Hakeem Jeffries to Meidas: “I was in my Capitol office a couple of days ago, and I think Lee Zeldin was talking. It was on C-SPAN. It was in the Oval Office. And the guy—the president—was literally falling asleep. I couldn’t believe it. Now, we’ve seen this happen in Cabinet meetings before, but the cameras are rolling, this Cabinet secretary is talking, and he’s falling asleep. Something is really wrong right now.”

… Dr. Gupta on new Medicaid changes: “They know people are not going to be able to navigate the paperwork, the signatures, and the 6-month recertification process.
So what’s going to happen? Those who are on the fringes of medical care, of maintaining a basic quality of life from a health care perspective, are going to suffer. And they’re basically guaranteeing that people will fall off the rolls and that many people will suffer—and likely die—because of this policy.”

… Pete Hegseth gave a disgraceful speech at Normandy during the D-Day ceremony: “Sadly, today, different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies such as in Spain, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria. Boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late? I pray not. The men who fought and died here restored freedom to Europe. That freedom must be maintained by this generation or what they fought for was merely temporary.”

We make the entire Weekend Bulletin available to free subscribers where about the first third of the daily Bulletins during the week are available. Everyone is also able to participate in the comments section to this Bulletin. Tomorrow is also my Ask the Editor show where I answer 5 of your questions. Please submit a question for the show if you have one below.

We had a great hike yesterday on Orr’s Island in Harpswell on the Maine Coast around Bowdoin College’s center for coastal studies. Here is a pic from the hike. If you missed Friday’s Bulletin, you can find it here.

… Deseret News: “Utah’s two US senators are questioning a new Pentagon policy that leaves ‘Christian’ off the designation for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Dept of War recently announced the reduction in the number of religious affiliation categories for service members from over 200 down to 31. It is included as a religious category on the updated list, but the faith was not included in the list of faiths labeled ‘Christian.’”

• Sen. Mike Lee posted: “Can anyone tell me why The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was left out of the list of Christian churches?” Lee made 14 posts about it in 24 hours.

• Sen. John Curtis: “Latter-day Saints are among the most patriotic, service-oriented individuals in our country. They are also unequivocally Christian - just look at who is in the name of the Church. It is unacceptable for a govt entity to characterize a faith in a manner that contradicts the religion’s own foundational tenets. I am working now to ensure a correction is made.”

• Rep. Mike Kennedy (R-UT): “The Pentagon’s decision to list The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints apart from other Christian faiths is wrong and needs to be corrected. We stand with Christ. We are Christians. On that ground, and on the much larger ground of shared faith, values, and purpose, Latter-day Saints stand alongside many Christians of every tradition in following the teachings of Christ. We only ask to be accurately portrayed. I strongly urge the Dept to correct the record.”

… AP: “After Pete Hegseth cut 9 Navy officers, including all the women, from a promotion list, several female officers say they see the unusual intervention as a sign that their careers now have a ceiling and worry for the future generation of female military leaders. The Navy had selected 31 sailors to promote from the rank of captain to one-star admiral, but Hegseth recently intervened to strike people from the list, including 3 women and 2 Black men.”

… “As a result, the Navy is not promoting a single woman to the one-star admiral rank this year even though women make up about one-quarter of all Navy officers and nearly one-third of the sea service’s midgrade ranks, according to military data from 2024.”

… “The AP spoke with 8 female Navy officers of varying ranks and time in service after Hegseth’s cuts. The more junior officers said they saw the development as a sign that their careers would become politicized if they rose too far in the ranks, and some said they felt they now had a limit on how far they could be promoted. Some said it made them feel less valued within the military and wondered whether that wasn’t part of the intent.”

… USA Today: “The US military has killed more than 200 people in strikes on boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific in the last 9 months in what legal experts and former military lawyers broadly agree constitute illegal military orders that service members should refuse to follow. While there is no record of troops refusing to follow these orders, at least a handful of service members grappling with these questions have sought legal advice.”

… “Two orgs that provide anonymous legal advice for military members grappling with orders they fear are illegal said they had received calls from service members concerned about the legality of the boat strikes, some from people directly involved in them. Steve Woolford, a counselor with Quaker House and the GI Rights Hotline, said he spoke with about 4 service members involved in the operation who were seeking legal and ethical guidance.”

… “One discussed helping plan a strike, and two others were ordered to execute strikes. Woolford said some of these callers were connected to lawyers, but he wasn’t aware of anyone who had refused an order or taken legal action. Callers are ‘more scared now that they’d be punished if they did bring something up,’ he said.”

… “Brenner Fissell, VP of the National Institute for Military Justice, said the Institute’s Orders Project, which also advises service members questioning if their orders are legal, receives a ‘steady but small number of calls,’ including from service members concerned that the boat strikes are illegal.

… Fissell said the callers expressed a “sense of being asked to do things that one is deeply conflicted with the morality of doing. There’s a general perception that no one is ever going to be prosecuted for this because Trump will be able to issue pardons preemptively.”

… Sen. John Fetterman on one of his daily Fox appearances went after Maine senate candidate Graham Platner with another bizarre rant: “P-Hustle, here’s a great chance. You can just prove that all these people that you’re dropping those dick pics and saying these things to were over 18. I will wear a suit every day in the Senate. You can set the record clear and provide all of those texts and all of those conversations that you were having.”

… Platner responded: “John Fetterman seems to genuinely think that the reason no one likes him is because he refuses to wear a suit. It’s not the hoodie, dude. It’s because you’ve become a stooge for AIPAC and the Republican party.”

… House Dem leader Hakeem Jeffries was asked on Fox about Platner and other Dem candidates: “It's very interesting that you've asked me about candidates, many of whom haven't even confronted a Democratic primary yet, but haven't asked me a single question about the hatred, xenophobia, the outright racism we see being peddled by actual members of Congress in the Republican conference."

… Meidas reporter Scott Macfarlane: “VA political organizer and a military vet filed federal suit, seeking court order to HALT the UFC fight at WH. From the lawsuit:

• “This plan is deeply corrupt. The president is giving Dana White and his company what none have enjoyed before: unfettered access to the WH to stage a private, for-profit sports event. The UFC is not being coy about the event’s pecuniary nature. One executive recently called it ‘the greatest earned-marketing tool of all time.’ He is far from the only one salivating at the business upside.”

• “Federal law tightly restricts private use of the national capital’s most sacred monumental spaces, which are national parklands. Under the NPS’s usual permitting regime, no special events of any sort, including any sporting events, may be held on the South Lawn.”

• “Defendants’ decision authorizing the structures currently being erected to host UFC Freedom 250 was likewise unlawful. In particular, the UFC is erecting a 92-foot-tall, 600-ton steel structure it calls ‘the Claw’ immediately adjacent to the Executive Residence, and is destroying much of the South Lawn in the process.

• “Trump posted a video on TikTok in which he suggested that the Claw may ‘never’ be taken down. Trump analogized the Claw to Paris’s Eiffel Tower, which, in his words ‘was supposed to be taken down immediately after the World’s Fair, and then they said, you know, we sort of like it.’”

• “The UFC’s broadcast partner, Paramount Skydance—which is run by two other Trump allies, Larry and David Ellison—has decided that no American will be able to take in this ‘celebration of America’ without first paying $8.99 plus tax for a Paramount Plus streaming subscription.”

… The Independent: “Several A-list celebrities invited to Trump’s UFC cage fight on the WH lawn later this month have no plans to show up, becoming the latest group to snub a presidential celebration of America’s 250th anniversary. Comedian Adam Sandler, actor and former wrestler Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, actor and musician Jared Leto and TV host Mario Lopez are among the names that UFC President Dana White told Time were invited to the event on Trump’s birthday.”

… “But representatives for the stars told Vanity Fair that none of them plan to attend.”

… Hakeem Jeffries to Meidas: “He’s trying to make the Kennedy Center about himself. He has to make the America 250 celebration about himself. He’s got to make the World Cup about himself. He’s got to make the East Wing about himself. And now he wants to make this historic Knicks championship run about himself as well. Get lost. Doesn’t this guy have better things to do? Yes, he does. How about trying to turn around the economy that you are destroying in real time?”

… Tom Nichols on MS NOW: “He’s determined to leave his mark here by kind of embedding or just covering the city in this kind of Walmart Liberace design ethos that he has. It’s also a sign of his mental and emotional state that this is what he thinks about all day, and not about the job of being the president of the United States.”

… Jeffries was asked how the Knicks crowd will react to Trump being at the game: “I don’t think he’s going to be received well. I think it’s very likely that, if his name is called or if he appears on the Jumbotron, he’s going to get booed.”

… The Knicks announced they have canceled all watch parties outside MSG for Game 3 of the NBA Finals due to security requirements surrounding Trump’s attendance.

… Mother Jones: “Every single one of the 599 refugees the US admitted last month was a white South African, according to data the State Dept’s Bureau of Population released Friday. In fact, so was every other refugee admitted this year. Since Oct 1, 2025, the US has accepted 6,668 refugees. Of those, 6,665 were white South Africans. 3 - admitted last November - were from Afghanistan. No other refugees were admitted.”

… 60 Minutes host Scott Pelley did his first interview since being fired from the show by Bari Weiss:

• On the 60 Minutes story about the Renee Good murder: “Bari Weiss sends an email to my boss. Two of the things in the email include: ‘Can we make the protestors look more violent?’ The other thing was, ‘Renee Good’s car, you need to describe her as driving towards the officer.’ But this is not what you see on the video. That’s what the president said, and that’s how she wanted it described.”

• Q - “Do you think Bari Weiss needs to be removed? Oh, gosh, yes. Look, she’s a lovely person. And her Free Press org that she founded has been very successful. But TV’s not her thing. This is like somebody walking up to me and saying, ‘There’s a 747, there are 400 people on it, we need you to fly it to Paris.’ I’m going to decline because I don’t have a clue. And it would have been so much better if Bari Weiss had been offered this job and said, ‘Oh, that’s not for me, I don’t know how to do that.’”

• “Trump said you were part of this gang of ‘stupid, crooked people that don’t care about your country.’ Pelley: “I’ve never worn the uniform. But I’ve been in combat for this country, in Afghanistan and Iraq, Kuwait. I’ve been shot at, spent nights in foxholes filling up with water in the desert. I’m not aware that the president has ever done any of those things for his country. You become a journalist because you love the First Amendment. You become a journalist because you love the country. There is no democracy without journalism. It can’t be done. That is why I am a journalist.”

… NYT: “RFK Jr. has shown little interest in managing the details of work in his dept, according to multiple colleagues. Instead, they say, he is single-mindedly focused on his top priorities, including food recommendations and pesticide exposures, and hunting for evidence to support his long-held beliefs that vaccines are harmful.”

… “Deeply mistrustful of career civil officials, the secretary has surrounded himself with a close circle of handpicked advisers and stacked agencies with political appointees aligned with his views. While major posts have sat vacant and a wave of veteran health experts and scientists have departed, Kennedy has remained isolated from much of the dept’s top staff.”

… “He rarely engages with members of Congress, colleagues said, unless he is asked to testify. He has made just one known visit to the CDC, after a gunman opened fire on its headquarters and killed a police officer last Aug. His detachment from much of the work of the agency, along with the admin’s deep staff cuts and his attacks on career staff, have driven down morale. It’s a dynamic that could threaten the dept’s ability to protect Americans in a crisis, according to public health experts and former secretaries.”

… CNN: “It was 3 days before the filing deadline when Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan learned of an 11th-hour Republican challenger in his high-stakes reelection race. The challenger’s name: Dan J. Sullivan. Sen. Sullivan says it’s not a joke. The incumbent is raising major alarms about his same-name rival, warning that it could cost them a seat by confusing the electorate and give a leg-up to his well-funded Democratic challenger, former Rep. Mary Peltola.”

… Sen. Sullivan: “His whole purpose of running is to confuse Alaskans, to make him, make them think – Alaskan voters – that somehow he’s me, so they could rig the vote in favor of Mary Peltola.” Sullivan and the National Republican Senatorial Committee are pressing state officials to remove his challenger’s name from the ballot.”

… “Dan J. Sullivan, a resident of a small fishing town in southeast Alaska, has said little publicly about his campaign – and he did not return several calls, emails and texts from CNN to discuss his bid. But in his few public comments, Dan J. Sullivan insists his campaign is legitimate. In a press release, Dan J. Sullivan described careers in the US Forest Service and as an elementary school teacher. And he told his local newspaper that he had no contact with Peltola prior to running.

… Dan J. Sullivan said he would not drop out: “I have every right to stand up and do this. It’s my name, my grandfather’s name: Dan Sullivan. My dad’s name: Dan Sullivan.”

… Republicans continue to echo Trump’s claim that the CA election is being stolen:

• Fox host Jesse Watters: “I can't prove it, but everybody watching thinks there's shenanigans.”

• Fox host Laura Ingraham: “If mail-in ballots are so cool and great, why is it mostly Democrats? “

• Fox host Greg Gutfeld: “They said it's going to take weeks to count. You know what that means: Shenanigans.”

• Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO): “What California is doing in this crazy Democrat scheme to sort of rig the elections.”

• Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL): “They have designed a system to cheat.”

… ABC: “In Texas, BBQ is more than just a meal, it’s a cultural staple and a way of life. But across the state, there are growing concerns as more and more BBQ joints announce they are closing their doors amid rising costs. TX is home to thousands of BBQ restaurants, many of which are now feeling the financial strain. Closures have hit beloved establishments like Kirby’s BBQ and Brett’s BBQ Shop as US cattle supply has dropped to a 75-year low, leading to a historic shortage of beef and sending prices soaring.”

… Emily Williams Knight, president of the TX Restaurant Assn: "4 years ago, it cost about 29 cents for the brisket on a sandwich. That is almost $6 today, and that's before you add potentially 12 hours of labor, because brisket's very labor-intensive. You add the pickle, the sauce, the bun, the credit card swipe fees, and so what you're seeing is this sort of incredible increase, almost 40-50%, is driving these barbecue restaurants right out of business."

… Dem US senate nominee James Talarico, outside a Texas BBQ restaurant, talked about the situation while ridiculing Republican claims that he is a vegan: “With the rising price of beef, we may all be forced to be vegans.”

… Tom Fitton’s right-wing Judicial Watch posted a story with a sensational claim about the shooting at the Trump rally during the 2024 campaign in Butler, PA: “FBI records shows Trump shooter emailed local law enforcement before Butler assassination attempt. For whatever reason, FBI is slow rolling the release of records about Butler!”

… The FBI posted: “This is a CLICK BAIT LIE by Judicial Watch which is now nothing more than the fake news media! The unredacted documents are interviews of Thomas Crooks’ by COLLEGE INSTRUCTORS, NOT cops, wherein those instructors reference to having emailed Thomas Crooks about COURSE WORK. They make NO references to contact between Thomas Crooks and ANY police department. Maybe if you spent more time on Facts instead of clicks you wouldn’t be a laughing stock.”

… Kash Patel then posted: “Facts over click bait.”

… Rep. Lauren Boebert to a Fox reporter who asked her about a former staffer for Rep. Victoria Spartz’s claims that Boebert had an affair with Rep. Thomas Massie: “Fuck you, first of all. If you’re going to bring me into this - the sexist stuff is out of control. I don’t want to talk about anybody’s exes and the crazy shit they do.”

I also want to remind you about our new Sunday show, On Sunday with Jack Cocchiarella. If you’re reading this soon after you received it, it’s probably still live, but you can always re-watch is after. Today’s guests are Sen. Chris Murphy, Rep. Robert Garcia, and journalist Don Lemon. I hope you enjoy it! Click here to watch.

Here’s what we’re tracking today:

Top Stories:

• Trump melts down during Meet the Press interview with Kristen Welker, calls her “crooked,” rips off his mic, and storms off set

• Israel launches airstrikes on Beirut’s Dahieh neighborhood, Iran threatens full-scale war response and “Operation True Promise 5”

• North Korea ramps up Hwasong-11 ballistic missile production while Trump praises the Ayatollah

• Federal lawsuit seeks emergency court order to block UFC event at the White House

• Trump’s planned attendance at NBA Finals Game 3 sparks Knicks fan fury

• California election updates

Before I go any further, if you haven’t yet joined as a paid subscriber, consider doing so now by clicking here to support our work. This is how we grow. And if you’re already a Meidas+ paid Substack subscriber, thank you for supporting pro-democracy media. We’re making this update free for everyone to read.

Trump’s Meet the Press Meltdown

Let’s start with the big one. Donald Trump sat down with NBC News anchor Kristen Welker for what was supposed to be a wide-ranging interview on Meet the Press. It did not go well for him, and by the end, he called Welker “crooked,” ripped off his microphone, and stormed off the set. It was a complete crash out.

The interview covered Iran, U.S. troops in the Middle East, American hostages, the impact of tariffs on American farmers, and election fraud claims. Trump grew increasingly unhinged throughout, and Welker, to her credit, kept pressing him with basic, straightforward questions that he simply could not answer.

On Iran, Trump said he plans to resolve the situation either through a deal or by blowing them “the hell up.” He also warned that Iran cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon, going so far as to say that if they did, there would be no more NBC, no more Meet the Press. I mean, what is he talking about? His own intelligence community said Iran did not have nuclear weapons capability. Now he’s out here threatening NBC with nuclear annihilation? This is how far gone he is.

He also praised the new Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, calling him “younger and more rational” and expressing willingness to meet with him. This from the same guy who, moments earlier, was threatening to blow Iran off the map. The whiplash is remarkable. It’s giving Kim Jong Un love letters all over again — and we all saw how much good that did, but more on North Korea in a moment.

When Welker asked whether Trump had kept his campaign promise of no new wars, he flatly said he never promised anything. He didn’t promise anything. Okay. So all those rallies, all those speeches, none of that counts apparently.

Welker also pressed him on why, if he’s such a great dealmaker, he never finalized an Iran nuclear deal during his entire first term after tearing up Obama’s agreement. Trump’s answer was that it takes years to do these things and it has only been three months. So now the war could take years? Making a deal could take years? His first term was four years. Where’s the deal? Where are the 90 trade deals in 90 days he promised? Where is any deal, in writing, anywhere? There isn’t one, because the whole dealmaker persona is a fraud.

On American hostages potentially held by Iran, Trump said nobody really has an accurate list of who they are or whether they’re even being held. He’s the president of the United States. He’s been conducting military operations against Iran. And he’s telling us he doesn’t know who the hostages are. He told Welker that if she gave him the names, he’d do his best.

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On farmers: when Welker cited a statistic that 70% of farmers say they cannot afford fertilizer because of tariffs, Trump said the farmers are doing very well. That’s it.

The whole thing finally came apart when the conversation turned to election fraud. Trump claimed the 2020 election was rigged and that fraud is currently happening in California. When Welker asked if he had evidence, he said, “All I have to do is look.” She pushed back. He called her crooked and stupid, then got up and left.

Israel Strikes Beirut, Iran Threatens Full-Scale War

While Trump was busy storming off a TV set, the situation in the Middle East continued to deteriorate. Israel launched airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in Beirut’s Dahieh neighborhood, acting on direct orders from Netanyahu per the IDF. Iran had made very clear, before these strikes, that any attack on Beirut would constitute a violation of the ceasefire and trigger a direct military response against Israel.

That response now appears to be coming. Iran’s IRGC announced it is ready to execute “Operation True Promise 5” against Israel. Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has authorized a full-scale resumption of hostilities. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council convened an emergency session. Iranian state TV is promising a “painful and decisive response.” Iran has issued evacuation warnings to residents in northern Israeli territory and transferred coordinates of Israeli targets to its missile units. An Iranian MP warned residents to “look at the sky over the occupied lands tonight.”

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This is exactly what was always going to happen. Trump announced a ceasefire weeks ago and declared victory. Netanyahu never accepted it as binding. He kept pushing, kept escalating, kept probing for the moment he could drag everyone back into open conflict. And here we are.

This is Donald Trump’s weakness on full display. The whole world sees it. Netanyahu is using Trump, and Trump either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care, because the alternative is admitting he has no control over what’s happening.

North Korea: Missiles and No Love Returned

Speaking of Trump’s brilliant diplomatic instincts — while he was on Meet the Press praising Iran’s new Ayatollah and talking about the “great respect” and “bravery” he sees in him, North Korean state media published footage of Kim Jong Un inspecting a defense plant and personally reviewing the fulfillment of ballistic missile production plans for the first half of 2026. The scale of Hwasong-11 production currently underway is massive, per state media.

Trump said Kim Jong Un and he exchanged love letters. He called him talented. He said they had a special relationship. North Korea has spent every day since then expanding its nuclear arsenal. The whole world sees this pattern. Flattery doesn’t work on dictators who are pursuing weapons of mass destruction. It just gives them cover.

Lawsuit Seeks to Block White House UFC Event

A federal lawsuit filed this week is asking a court to immediately halt Trump’s planned UFC event at the White House before it takes place. The suit, first reported by MeidasTouch’s Scott MacFarlane, calls the scheme “deeply corrupt” and argues that Trump is using public property — including the White House grounds and the Lincoln Memorial — to enrich political allies.

The event is called “UFC Freedom 250.” UFC CEO Dana White is a close personal friend and political ally of Trump’s. VIP packages are reportedly being sold for between $1 million and $1.5 million per person. Corporate sponsors are paying to have their brands displayed alongside the Executive Residence and Reflecting Pool. And no American will be able to watch what’s being billed as a “celebration of America” without first paying for a Paramount+ subscription.

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The suit also notes that the event happens to coincide with Trump’s 80th birthday, raising the question of whether this is really a national celebration or just a very expensive birthday party being funded by people seeking access and favor.

Attorney Brendan Ballou told MeidasTouch: “The basic question we need to ask as a country is whether we want to use our most sacred national monuments to enrich the President and his allies.” An emergency court order to stop the event before it takes place is being sought.

Knicks Fans Are Not Happy

Trump has also inserted himself into the NBA Finals, because of course he has. His planned attendance at Game 3 at Madison Square Garden has forced the Knicks to notify ticket holders they need to arrive at least two hours early due to security requirements. For fans who paid thousands of dollars for their seats, that’s a significant disruption.

The reaction on the Knicks’ official social media was overwhelmingly hostile. Among the most-liked comments: “Why should the rest of us have to suffer because of one person’s decision to go, especially when he probably can’t even name three players on the team.” Another comment with nearly 3,000 likes simply asked: “Why y’all let him in??? We don’t want him there.”

Loud boos are expected when he enters the arena. New York is going to let him know how they feel.

California Governor Primary Update

Now to California, where the primary results continue to update as votes get processed.

Xavier Becerra has advanced to the general election, leading the field at 27.0% with about 1.8 million votes and 70.6% of expected votes counted. That means the story now turns to the fight for the second spot in the general. For those who don’t know, in California, the top two candidates in the primary advance, regardless of party. Republican Steve Hilton currently sits at 26.1%, while Democrat Tom Steyer is at 21.3%. With roughly 2.8 million votes still to be counted, Steyer faces a deficit of about 320,000 votes against Hilton. The math is difficult for Steyer. At this point, it is looking increasingly likely that California’s general election for governor will be a Becerra vs. Hilton matchup — a Democrat against a Republican in one of the bluest states in the country. That being said, we’ll keep on monitoring this as the results come in.

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California Mayoral Primary Update

In the Los Angeles mayoral race, the latest vote drop from Friday’s election shows progressive Councilmember Nithya Raman not only hitting the numbers she needs to advance to the general election against Karen Bass, but blowing way past them. In the most recent batch, Raman took 40.2% to Karen Bass’s 33.0% and Spencer Pratt’s 17.7%. Raman is overperforming her benchmark against Pratt by 14 points. Pratt is now sitting at 27.3% overall — and for context, Trump only got 26.5% in Los Angeles in 2024. In spite of all the media hype, Pratt may end up finishing below Trump’s own total in this city. Raman is all but certain to advance to the general alongside Bass.

That’s the Sunday afternoon update. A lot happening, as always. Let me know your thoughts in the comments and remember to like and subscribe. And please add the MeidasTouch Podcast today anywhere you find podcasts like Apple Podcasts and Spotify. It’s a great and free way to help us continue to grow.

Ron will be back later with his weekend bulletin, so stay tuned.

See you soon!

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As you know, these Sunday coffee messages are my favorite posts of the week.

Even during difficult and uncertain times for our country and the world, taking a moment to sit down with a cup of coffee, reflect on the week behind us, and think about the week ahead is something I genuinely look forward to. More than anything, it’s the chance to spend time with this incredible community.

No matter how chaotic things get, no matter how serious the challenges we face, I always leave these conversations feeling hopeful because of you.

So here we are at the beginning of June.

Donald Trump still has no plan to extricate the United States from this catastrophic and unlawful war with Iran that continues to rattle markets, destabilize the global economy, and create pain here at home. I don’t need to tell you that prices remain too high. The coffee I’m drinking right now costs more than it should. Groceries cost more. Rent costs more. Gas costs more.

And yet Trump appears completely disconnected from what everyday Americans are experiencing.

Instead, he talks about golden ballrooms, arches, reflecting pools, and vanity projects that feel entirely detached from the realities facing working families.

I suspect we’ll see another round of regime media spin today. After Friday’s market selloff, I expect there will be headlines designed to create the appearance of breakthroughs and momentum. At the same time, Trump is reportedly preparing more events with major AI executives as he continues to stock trade and manipulate markets.

And as a lifelong Knicks fan who grew up in New York, I have to say this.Trump’s announcement that he’s attending Game 3 at Madison Square Garden has already created chaos. Increased security measures, longer wait times, and disruptions for fans are already being discussed. Somehow, even a Knicks Finals run risks becoming another Trump disaster.

It’s remarkable. Whether it’s sports, government, or national crises, everything gets pulled into the same orbit of self-promotion and hate.

And then there’s the bizarre UFC setup at the White House. The entire thing looks like a White House junkyard. At times it feels like we’re watching reality television rather than the functioning government of the United States.

The irony? Early forecasts suggest the outdoor event could be hit by rain and thunderstorms. We’ll see what happens, but it’s hard not to notice that even nature seems determined to weigh in these days.

Before we know it, we’ll be entering the final stretch toward the midterm elections. It’s June already. In a few weeks it’ll be July. Time moves fast.

These midterms will be the most consequential elections of our lifetime. Accountability matters. Truth matters. Democracy matters.

As always, we’ll be on the front lines covering every development, exposing every lie, and making sure the facts reach people who need them.

Today, though, I’m going to spend some time with family. My mom is in town. We’re taking family photos. I’ll enjoy some time away from the cameras before getting back to work.

But before I go, I just want to say thank you.

Thank you for spending part of your Sunday with me.

Thank you for building this community.

Thank you for believing that facts still matter.

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Stories we’re tracking today:

• Iran strikes US interests in Kuwait and Bahrain following US strikes in the Strait of Hormuz and Iran is now threatening complete closure of the strait and $200 oil

• Trump cuts his Meet the Press interview short after 50 minutes, then flees to Bedminster

• The Pentagon raises Israel’s counterintelligence threat level to “critical” — the highest possible rating

• Trump regime deletes a confirmed second New World Screwworm detection in Texas

• New FBI documents show a Butler County sheriff’s deputy exchanged emails with Thomas Crooks before the July 13, 2024 shooting

• Hegseth uses his D-Day speech at Normandy to attack European immigration policy

• After Trump falls asleep at his desk (again), Hochul, Newsom, and the entire internet respond

• The Kushner-Albania resort controversy heats up even more as Albania’s PM dismisses dying flamingos and “depressed turtles”

• Hunter Biden wins hearts and minds of even MAGA users with his posts on social media

Before I go any further, if you haven’t yet joined as a paid subscriber, consider doing so now by clicking here to support our work. This is how we grow. And if you’re already a Meidas+ paid Substack subscriber, thank you for supporting pro-democracy media. We’re making this update free for everyone to read.

Let’s get into it.

Iran Strikes Back Overnight

Here’s where things stand in the Strait of Hormuz. Overnight, US forces struck Iranian coastal surveillance radar sites after shooting down Iranian drones that were headed toward the strait. Iran responded by launching ballistic missiles and drone attacks on US interests in Bahrain and Kuwait. Air raid sirens went off across both countries, massive explosions were heard as far away as Basra, Iraq, and you could see smoke rising over Kuwait City.

CENTCOM says it intercepted all seven ballistic missiles. Iran says it successfully hit its targets. Unfortunately, CENTCOM has lied repeatedly about these incidents over the course of this war.

What isn’t in dispute is what Iran said next. The IRGC formally warned the United States that it will now completely and absolutely close the Strait of Hormuz and that the US will be “fully responsible” for what that does to global oil markets. Iran knows exactly what $200-a-barrel oil does to this country, and they are trying to ramp up the pressure.

According to Iran’s own account, the overnight exchange went like this: four tankers tried to exit the strait at 1:30 AM Tehran time. One was struck and stopped. Three turned back. The US then hit telecom towers in Qeshm with drones. Iran then responded with ballistic missile strikes on US air bases and Fifth Fleet facilities. Their message to Washington was essentially: “Try us again.”

Meanwhile, global oil inventories are now weeks away from hitting historic lows after IEA nations drew down strategic reserves faster than at any point in history. The $200 projection isn’t fringe analysis anymore.

And in the middle of all this, Trump is posting AI videos of himself. An image of his reflection in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. “Panicans got real quiet.”

Trump Runs Away From His Own Interview

Trump sat down with NBC’s Kristen Welker for what was supposed to be a 90-minute to two-hour Meet the Press interview in a barn in Wisconsin. He left after about 50 minutes, reportedly after the rain got loud on the metal roof and after pushing back on questions about election integrity. Then he got on Marine One and headed straight to Bedminster, where Alina Habba, his former personal lawyer who briefly played US Attorney for New Jersey, posted an Instagram story welcoming him home to Toby Keith music.

During the abbreviated interview, Trump said the US has “totally destroyed” Iran’s military, but then said that Iran still has 21 to 22 percent of its missiles. “That’s a lot of missiles,” he admitted in the same breath.

He also said that Iran hasn’t agreed to a US deal because its leaders are “strong” and “proud.”

After the interview, Trump posted about the Maryland governor blocking golf course renovations at Joint Base Andrews, outraged, apparently, that military personnel might have to drive somewhere to play golf. Forget the war. Trump has golf courses, reflecting pools, and ballrooms to worry about.

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The Pentagon Just Flagged Israel as a Spy Threat

NBC News is out with a significant investigation: the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency has raised its counterintelligence threat assessment of Israel to “critical” — the highest possible rating. The seven-page DIA assessment, viewed by a current US official, identifies specific incidents that elevated the concern and finds that Israel’s ability to conduct human espionage and technical collection against the United States has reached a level that cannot be ignored.

This comes in the context of real tension between Trump and Netanyahu. The two reportedly had a tense phone call this week, tense enough that Trump afterward acknowledged calling Netanyahu “crazy.” Since the ceasefire that went into effect in early April, Trump has been pursuing a diplomatic off-ramp with Iran. Netanyahu wants to resume bombing. Israel is extremely interested in which direction Trump goes, and they’re apparently doing everything they can to influence that decision, including spying on the people making it.

The Israeli embassy called the story “completely false.” The White House said it was “false and sourced to someone who doesn’t have knowledge of what’s going on.” The Pentagon declined to comment.

Posted, Then Deleted

USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins confirmed a second New World Screwworm detection — a one-month-old calf in Zavala County, Texas, 5.6 miles from the first case. She posted the announcement at 6:45 PM yesterday, detailing strike teams on the ground, sterile fly releases at 2 million aerial and 4 million ground per week, and active movement control zones.

Then she deleted it.

Texas Rep. Jonathan Richie caught the deletion and posted the full original text publicly. This is the same regime that’s been removing the detection experts and surveillance infrastructure that were specifically designed to catch outbreaks like this one before they spread. Now there are two confirmed cases, and instead of transparency, we get a post and a quiet delete.

A Stunning Update From the Butler Investigation

FBI records obtained through a Judicial Watch FOIA lawsuit reveal that a Butler County sheriff’s deputy exchanged two emails with Thomas Crooks before the July 13, 2024 assassination attempt. I should note that Judicial Watch is a very conservative organization. The documents are heavily redacted. We can see the emails existed, but we can’t see what they said. The same records show that a SWAT officer recovered both a cell phone and a remote device with an antenna from Crooks after he was killed.

A separate FBI document from July 17, 2024 references the agency’s effort to track potential threats posted online in the days after the shooting, with large sections redacted under a law enforcement exemption.

I’m going to do a full video on this, but the cover-up narrative around Butler continues to get harder to wave away.

Hegseth Went to Normandy and Talked About Immigration

On the 82nd anniversary of D-Day, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stood on the beaches of Normandy and used the occasion to deliver a message about migrants arriving by boat in Europe. He said that “different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies” today, and asked when European capitals would act against what he called an invasion.

I don’t have much more to say about this other than that Pete Hegseth is a disgrace to all the values our brave men and women fought for

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Everything Else

Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama gave an interview to Euronews defending the Kushner-Ivanka luxury resort project that has sparked major protests in Albania over its impact on a protected ecological area. His message on the dying flamingos and what have been described as depressed turtles in the region: they don’t exist. He predicted the project will “change how Europe understands the environment.” He also called Jared Kushner “the son in love” before catching himself. Freudian slip.

Meanwhile, the clip of Trump appearing to fall asleep at his desk during a signing ceremony continues to spread. Governor Kathy Hochul used the moment to post a fake $250 bill featuring the photo of a sleeping Trump. Governor Newsom wished the president “a restful weekend.” The internet ran with it as “Weekend at Donnie’s: Director’s Cut.” Others called him the “Commander-In-Sleep.”

And Hunter Biden is posting words on social media about sobriety and recovery that are resonating with even the most ardent MAGA supporters.

That’s the Saturday afternoon update. A lot is still developing on Iran and elsewhere, and we’ll keep you posted as more comes in. I hope you have a chance to tune in to Legal AF later as well. The show will go live on YouTube at 8pm ET.

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In this episode, host and USMC combat veteran Joe Plenzler sits down with national security expert and Navy veteran Chris Preble to dissect a volatile global arena and the critical need for a prioritized U.S. foreign policy. Moving past the post-Cold War illusion of unchecked American hegemony, Preble argues that the last 25 years have exposed severe domestic constraints and significant strategic weaknesses.

From the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan to the economic fallout of Trump’s reckless and unnecessary war with Iran and heavy-handed diplomacy in Cuba, this episode challenges Washington’s over-militarized approach. The duo dive deep into the astronomical costs of warfare, the failure of elite-driven policy deference, and the urgent need for a derelict Congress to reclaim its constitutional war powers.

Key Takeaways & Critical Insights

• The Illusion of Unchecked Power: Coming out of the Cold War, the U.S. operated without an equal adversary, creating a bad habit of “chasing shiny objects” abroad. The conflict with Iran proves that weak adversaries can inflict massive strategic and economic damage on the American home front.

• The New Deterrent Choke Points: While Washington spent decades obsessed with an Iranian nuclear weapon, Tehran discovered something more powerful: tactical control over the Strait of Hormuz. By leveraging economic choke points, they can bleed the U.S. financially without ever brandishing a nuclear weapon.

• The Asymmetry of Modern Warfare: Iran is successfully executing a “hedgehog strategy”—using $2,500 drones to force the U.S. to deplete its precious, multi-million dollar interceptor missile stockpiles (like THAAD systems) meant for intercontinental ballistic defense.

• The Death of Elite Deference: For decades, the public deferred foreign policy to the “elites.” This war has shattered that tradition. Lacking a “rally around the flag” effect or a direct threat to the homeland, public opposition is soaring as Americans directly feel the consequences through $6-a-gallon gasoline at the pump and subsequent surging inflation..

• The Danger of Misreading Lessons (Cuba & Venezuela): While the administration boasts about a “fatality-free” intervention in Venezuela, Preble warns that applying those same assumptions to an economically choked Cuba is a disaster waiting to happen. Imposing brutal economic suffering on the Cuban people will only fuel historical anti-Yankee imperialism and risk a massive humanitarian crisis or boat lift of tens of thousands to Miami.

• The Illusion of a Paper Tiger: While China watches the U.S. struggle in the Middle East, Preble notes that a cross-strait invasion of Taiwan remains incredibly unlikely due to structural economic weaknesses in China and the sheer logistical nightmare of launching an amphibious operation.

The Strategic Scorecard: Evaluating the Conflict with Iran

Joe and Chris weigh the administration’s shifting justifications against reality:

Stated Objective: Regime Change

The Reality / Scorecard: Failure. The administration falsely analogized Iran to Venezuela, expecting a quick collapse at the top. The regime remains firmly entrenched and willing to slaughter its own citizens on an industrial scale to retain power.

Stated Objective: Nuclear Deterrence

The Reality / Scorecard: Failure. Tearing up previous diplomatic agreements under the guise of “maximum pressure” yielded zero positive outcomes, locking the U.S. into an active, costly conflict burning $2B per day and costing thousands of lives.

Stated Objective: Regional Proxy Neutralization

The Reality / Scorecard: Inconclusive. While proxy networks face duress from Israeli actions, Iran’s overall strategic positioning coming out of this war is arguably stronger and more resistant to Western bullying.

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The Crisis of Accountability: A Derelict Congress

A major theme of the discussion centers around the moral criteria for introducing a nation to war. Both veterans lament that Washington’s “toughest talkers” are often those who have never smelled a whiff of gunpowder, risking the lives of other people’s children.

“James Madison said that the part of the Constitution that vested the war powers in Congress was the most important of the entire document... He also didn’t think we should fund wars on debt; he believed we should pay as you go.” — Chris Preble

The Three Pillars of a “Moral War”

According to Plenzler, a nation should only enter a conflict if three basic standards are met:

1. Constitutional Authorization: Congress must openly debate and vote on a War Powers Authorization rather than letting a president act unilaterally.

2. Economic Immediacy: The war must be funded via an immediate war tax so the current generation bears the burden, rather than pushing a $39+ trillion national debt onto our grandchildren.

3. Shared Sacrifice: A lack of general conscription allows elite decision-makers to insulate themselves from the human cost. If a nation goes to war, the sacrifice must be collectively shared.

Redefining Diplomacy: Carrots, Sticks, and Persuasion

Chris challenges the popular Hollywood trope of diplomats as “sniveling officials signing papers after a loss.” True diplomacy means ensuring the war never happens in the first place by identifying overlapping human interests.

The U.S. must move away from the mindset of negotiating with bombs or “killing harder.” Enduring global stability relies on letting empowered regional actors step up to defend themselves rather than enforcing an expensive, bloated, and unsustainable global offensive footprint.

Actionable Takeaways for Listeners

Living in a democratically elected republic is not a spectator sport. If you are frustrated by a skyrocketing debt-to-GDP ratio, $6 gas, or military interventions being carried out in your name, you have a responsibility to act:

1. Call Your Representatives Weekly: Demand accountability. Ask them why they have not forced a formal vote on current military operations.

2. Be Polite to the Staffers: Remember that the young staff members answering the phones do not write the policy. State your frustrations clearly and firmly, but treat them with respect so your message successfully filters up to the Chief of Staff.

Mentioned in this Episode

• Books: Gangsters of Capitalism by Jonathan M. Katz (A look at historical U.S. imperialism in Central and South America).

• Research: The Brown University Costs of War Project ($6+ trillion spent on post-9/11 conflicts).

• Policy Paper: The Stimson Center’s recent report by Michael Cohen and Will Smith analyzing the shifting rationales of the Trump administration’s conflict with Iran.

Where to Follow the Guests and Host

• Chris Preble: Head over to Stimson.org to read all open-source research from the Reimagining US Grand Strategy program.

• Listen to Chris’s Podcast: Check out the Net Assessment Podcast (co-hosted with Zach Cooper and Melanie Marlowe), now running for over 8 years. Don’t miss their episode on “Predatory Hegemony.”

• Joe Plenzler: Follow Joe’s writing on Substack at Joe Plenzler, watch the Valor Media Network for in-depth veteran perspective on defense, and subscribe to Meidas Defense on the MeidasTouch Network.

  Meidas+ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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• Q - “Were you sending sexually explicit messages to other women back in 2023, 2024? Platner: At the beginning of our marriage, I made mistakes and Amy held me accountable for them, and we worked through them. And the work that we did made our marriage significantly stronger. And who we are today is an incredibly faithful and happy married couple. Amy is my best friend. I love her more than anything else.”

• Q - “Did you know what this tattoo was about before last October when you said you first became aware of it? Platner: No, I did not. I took my shirt off in front of my family, many of whom are Jewish. We even released a video of me dancing with my shirt off at my brother’s wedding to his wife, who is Jewish, and her extended Jewish family. I would not have taken my shirt off in that context if I had known.”

… NOTUS reporter Jeff Stein on Platner’s campaign consultant: “I know this isn’t the point but I wonder how many virulent antisemites really would decide to make ‘Morris Katz’ their most important adviser.”

• Q - “The NYT reported that they saw texts of hers, including a text of Aug 3, where she said you had a Nazi tattoo. How does she know it’s a Nazi tattoo in Aug but you don’t know it’s a Nazi tattoo until Oct? Platner: She certainly didn’t send that text to me. Whoever she sent it to, I can’t say why. But I will say that I didn’t know. And the text messages that she sent to friends - they may have recognized it, but they didn’t tell me that.”

• Q - “Have you gotten any pressure from Dem leaders to drop out of the race? Platner: No, I have not. And I expect that we will not because what we built up here - it’s robust, it’s very strong. It has never crossed our mind to drop out of this thing. I am fully committed to this to the end.”

… CNN: From a source close to Janet Mills: “The Governor remains on the ballot, and in the wake of this week’s stories, people across Maine are reaching out to tell her they’re voting for her and encouraging her to get fully back into the race.”

… The election is Tuesday. I saw some people today put Mills signs out again for the first time since she dropped out. Mills is not going to win this primary, but it will be interesting to watch how many votes she gets. This was outside Whole Foods in Portland.

… NBC: “From Maine to Washington, Democrats expressed frustration over the cascade of controversies emanating from the Platner campaign. They have fueled a number of his long-standing critics who have also objected to his left-leaning populist views.”

• Matt Bennett of the Democratic think tank Third Way, who had backed Mills: “There have been a lot of red flags in this race, and they continue to proliferate. We have long been concerned that it could cost us the seat, and we don’t feel any better about it today.”

• Carol Eisenberg, a Maine lawyer and Mills supporter, said she feared the latest reports about Platner could “harm Democratic prospects” against Collins. She hoped “that he exits the race and the Dems can draft a better candidate. He deserves our sympathy for his trauma. And lots of therapy. And AA. But not a Senate seat.”

• Adam Cote, who ran against Mills in the 2018 primary and has not endorsed in the Senate primary: “I don’t know if this is a death-by-a-thousand-cuts situation, or if this is a situation where he is putting together a movement, and he’s a bit of a Teflon candidate in that sense where people are more motivated by his message and the way he delivers it.”

… “But other Democrats said Trump’s history of scandals gives them more breathing room, given that the real estate magnate rose to the highest office in the nation despite facing multiple serious allegations of sexual misconduct. While they were quick to say there was only one Trump, supporters described the Platner movement as one that could withstand the most brutal of body blows.”

… David Farmer, a veteran Maine Democratic strategist who is not involved in the Senate race said many Maine Dems are worried about what the Republicans have on Platner (count me in that group): “A lot of his enthusiastic supporters are remaining true. But I do think there is a sense of - a certain sense of foreboding about what might happen.”

… A longtime Maine Dem summed up the position of her fellow Platner supporters: “They need change. They need someone who’s different, because what is happening right now in Washington is criminal. It’s not because people love Nazi tattoos. We need a fresh face. We need a fresh take. The dread part is coming from people who are looking at a more practical look at: How do we win in Nov? I think most voters say: I knew he wasn’t perfect, but can he win?”

… That’s pretty much the deal from everyone I talk to here.

… Trump did a brief press gaggle as he came off AF1 today on a trip to WI for a midterms campaign event:

• Q - “How much oil have you gotten through the straight with the help of naval escorts? Trump: A lot. I don't want to say how many. A lot of oil is coming into the world that people don't even know about.”

• Q - Sen. Tillis said he won't support Todd Blanche’s confirmation unless he condemns J6. Do you have a reaction to that? Trump: Tillis is a loser. That's why he didn't run. He didn't run because I wouldn't support him. And he's just an angry man because he's not going to be a senator any longer. He wasn't respected in the Senate.”

• Q - “On the new ‘Trump Promenade’ you announced yesterday to add on to the Lincoln Memorial - where is the funding going to come from? Trump: It’s not a lot of money. We have a lot of sources of funding.”

… Trump said he has accepted the invitation of NY Knicks owner James Dolan to attend Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden on Monday night. His official WH schedule was changed to reflect that he will be at the event.

… Lifelong Knicks fan Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) on CNN: “Why does Donald Trump always have to ruin a good thing? The Knicks haven’t been in the NBA Finals for 27 years, the city is trying to celebrate this, we’ve embraced this team, and this guy has to inject himself.”

… Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Independent Vets of America: “Unfortunately, Trump is coming to MSG. And he is of course attaching himself to probably the most unpopular part of the Knicks and the guy fans hate: Dolan. Unless they can walk Trump out in the middle of the anthem, or do some other kind of political trickery, there is no way the boos won’t be loud. And especially outside The Garden at the watch party.”

… Before the game on Monday, Trump will head to his golf club at Bedminster where he will most likely spend his 3-day weekend golfing before heading to the NBA game.

… But Trump was working hard today before his extended weekend: “The Ballroom is coming along fantastically well. It’s on time, and under budget, and at a much higher quality than I ever promised, including the DronePort, and ALL of the other many Military elements, which are all vital for National Security, that are being built throughout the whole integrated, cohesive Project. It is desperately needed, and will be very special!”

… He continues to be laser-focused on improving the lives of the American people.

… WaPo: More than half of the publicly identified corporate donors to Trump’s WH ballroom project have received new or expanded federal contracts. A watchdog report detailed that these contracts are collectively worth over $50 billion. Key details and figures from the report include:

• 14 of the 27 known corporate donors secured additional federal business in the months following their contributions.

• Lockheed Martin received the most new business, totaling approximately $43.8 billion. Other major donors that won increased federal contracts include Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Palantir.

• Many of the donating companies were simultaneously facing federal enforcement actions that were eased or quietly suspended under the Trump admin.

… The admin’s refusal to release a full list of all donors and their exact contribution amounts has prompted Congressional Democrats to press for greater transparency, with some lawmakers introducing legislation to ban anonymous donations for WH grounds projects.

… WH Economic Advisor Kevin Hassett on CNBC: “The gas price story is a serious one. We understand that people are hurting on that. We’ve taken a number of measures to reduce the disruption, and we expect it to be temporary.”

… He’s been saying that for 4 months.

… “Even if the strait stays closed, what will happen is they will start building pipelines to get into the Red Sea and so on, so markets adjust to these things.”

… That will take years. And Iran has the Houthis sitting on the Red Sea.

… Q: “Has China started buying American farmers’ products? What’s the status on that? Hassett: Um, I’d have to get an update on that.”

… WSJ just reported that China has finally started placing orders on soybeans that are being grown right now, but nothing close to the amounts before Trump started his trade war.

… Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC): “I got to be honest, the midterms are going to be a bloodbath. You know, it’s going to be very difficult. I think we’re going to be swimming upstream this cycle because we haven’t delivered on our promises, and that’s a real problem for us.”

… WSJ: Trump says he wants Bill Pulte, his incoming acting DNI, to begin the process of firing a large number of employees as part of a shake-up of the US intelligence community. Trump argued that Pulte’s acting status is an asset: “You’re less shackled. It sort of gives you more power, you know, for a somewhat limited period of time.”

No Bulletin tomorrow because I’m off Saturdays. We are heading out on the hike we wanted to do last week in a remote part of the Maine coast but we got rained out. Will try to get a good photo. To me the most amazing things to see in Maine cannot be seen from any road, so if you don’t take up hiking you will miss all of it.

Next Bulletin out on Sunday night to recap the weekend. The number of readers and subscribers continues to grow, with over 300 people joining us as free subscribers just from yesterday’s Bulletin alone. Welcome aboard and buckle up because this can be a wild ride most of the time!

… Politico: “Congressional Republicans are close to clearing their long-stalled immigration enforcement funding bill for Trump’s signature. House GOP leaders, however, sent members home early for the weekend without standing by to take upthe bill from the Senate, which was nearing the home stretch on legislation after an all-night voting session early Friday morning.”

… “During the Senate vote-a-rama, Republicans beat back several amendments - including from some of their own members - that would have reined in or nixed DOJ’s ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund.’ They also rejected Democratic attempts to add in provisions undermining Trump’s ballroom project or targeting acting DNI Bill Pulte.”

… Punchbowl: “The marathon voting session on the reconciliation bill laid bare the consequences of Trump’s recent moves, from the toppling of two GOP incumbents to the political toxicity of the WH’s handling of an ‘anti-weaponization’ fund for his

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Hi all, Ben here. We finally made it to Friday! Let me get you caught up on everything we’re tracking before you head into the weekend. First, thank yous are in order. The MeidasTouch Network has officially surpassed 10 BILLION views on YouTube alone. And that's not all: the MeidasTouch Podcast is once again the #1 podcast on the YouTube Podcast Charts. We are so grateful for your support and never take it for granted. Not for one second. Thank you.

Ok, now to the top stories we are tracking today:

Top Stories Today:

• Iran says negotiations with the U.S. have completely collapsed, with all channels severed

• Iran’s Navy claims it fired warning shots at U.S. destroyers in the Sea of Oman; CENTCOM denies it

• JD Vance accused of leaking a Mossad operation to Turkey’s Erdogan, blowing the entire plan

• Trump’s DOJ argues in court that the government could bulldoze the Statue of Liberty with no legal recourse if they wanted

• Senate Republicans pass $70 billion ICE/CBP reconciliation bill with no limits on Trump’s “weaponization fund”

• House passes bipartisan Ukraine Support Act, 226-195, with 18 Republicans defying Speaker Johnson

• Federal judge strikes down Trump’s immigration freeze affecting 39 countries in a 135-page ruling

• Trump wants incoming DNI Bill Pulte to fire “a lot of people” across the intelligence community ahead of next week’s FISA deadline

• Protests enter yet another night in Albania over the Kushner/Ivanka resort project

• California primary elections are still being counted

• New York City records its fewest murders and shootings in the first five months of any year in city history

• MeidasTouch surpasses 10 billion YouTube views and again gets the #1 podcast spot on YouTube Podcast Charts

Before I go any further, if you haven’t yet joined as a paid subscriber, consider doing so now by clicking here to support our work. This is how we grow. And if you’re already a Meidas+ paid Substack subscriber, thank you for supporting pro-democracy media. We’re making this update free for everyone to read.

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The Iran Situation Is Going Nowhere Fast

Iran has declared negotiations with the United States completely dead. They say every messaging channel has been severed. Iran says talks were already fully deadlocked because the U.S. refused to release $24 billion in frozen funds without demanding nuclear concessions in return. Iran also pushed back on a report from Al Arabiya claiming it had agreed to transfer enriched uranium to a third country, calling it flat-out incorrect and saying nuclear discussions are not even on the current negotiation agenda.

This is where we are. And it’s getting harder by the day to track what’s actually happening militarily because CENTCOM has become completely unreliable. The posturing on both sides, quite frankly, makes it extra difficult to know what is actually going on at any time. But that’s why we take a look at the hard data, independent reporting, and do our best to cut through the noise to bring you what is really going on.

Iran’s Navy is now claiming it fired warning shots, Qadir missiles and Shahid Danaye drones, at two U.S. destroyers in the Sea of Oman, and that both warships retreated toward the Indian Ocean. Iran also claims the USS Tripoli amphibious assault ship was forced to leave the area, with a warning that longer-range missiles will be used if U.S. ships return. CENTCOM’s response was a flat denial, stating via X that Iranian forces did not attack or fire at U.S. Navy warships and that doing so would constitute a gross ceasefire violation.

Here’s my problem with that: we have video from Iran’s Navy showing where the shots and drones were fired in the direction of the U.S. destroyers. Maybe they weren’t direct hits. Maybe they were warning shots exactly as Iran described. But CENTCOM just saying “false, didn’t happen,” when we watched something similar play out with the Kuwait strikes earlier this week, is not credible anymore. Remember when CENTCOM said Iran’s retaliatory strikes on Kuwait caused no damage, that every drone and ballistic missile had been intercepted, and then we saw the footage of both the Kuwaiti airport and the U.S. air base there having been directly hit? This is a pattern now. The politicization of our military command is genuinely dangerous.

Speaking of things CENTCOM probably didn’t intend to reveal: they released what they called a photo from an “undisclosed location in the CENTCOM area of responsibility” showing a Michigan Air National Guard F-16 being refueled mid-air at night. The only problem is Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah is clearly visible in the background. So much for undisclosed. Our planes are just... loitering over the UAE apparently, which I’m sure the Gulf states appreciate.

There’s also a significant report that deserves more attention: the main U.S. air war command center in the region, the Combined Air Operations Center at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, was directly hit by Iranian missiles early in the conflict and severely damaged, according to Air & Space Forces Magazine. A secondary facility in South Carolina had to be activated to fill the gap. This is not a small thing, and it largely hasn’t been covered with the prominence it deserves.

And then there’s the JD Vance situation. Israeli intelligence sources, reported by the Jerusalem Post, are accusing Vance of leaking a Mossad plan to deploy Kurdish forces against Iran directly to Turkish President Erdogan. Erdogan, whose red line is any Kurdish military presence near Turkey’s borders, then lobbied Trump to kill the operation — and Trump vetoed it. Vance’s press secretary denied the report, calling it categorically false. But this accusation is coming from Israeli intelligence sources. That feels notable.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov also weighed in today. Lavrov argued the U.S. attack on Iran was designed to prevent the normalization of Arab-Iranian relations, called the framing that Iran “must” open the Strait of Hormuz absurd given that it was open without incident until February 28th, and warned that the assassination of Ayatollah Khamenei — who had maintained a fatwa against building nuclear weapons — may ultimately push Iran’s leadership toward reconsidering that position. He’s not wrong that the fatwa was real and that Khamenei enforced it. The consequences of this war are going to extend far beyond what the Trump administration appears to have gamed out.

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A Golden Age for Who, Exactly?

The May jobs report came out this morning — 172,000 jobs added, says the Bureau of Labor Statistics (after Trump ousted previous leadership for reporting jobs numbers he didn’t like) and unemployment holding at 4.3%. Then Trump went on Truth Social to whine that stocks should be going up, not down, on the news.

His National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett went on Fox News to explain that Wall Street “just doesn’t understand” that the Trump economy is creating a golden age.

Hassett then went on C-SPAN and was asked a simple question: has China started buying American farmers’ products, as the administration promised? His answer: “Um, I’d have to get an update on that.”

On gas prices, now in month four of being elevated, Hassett called it a serious issue but assured everyone the pain would be “temporary.” We are nearly 100 days in. At what point does “temporary” become something else?

And then there’s the Strait of Hormuz. Hassett’s solution, offered on CNBC while WTI crude sat at $91.95, was essentially: even if the Strait stays closed forever, we’ll build some pipelines into the Red Sea.

The New York Times headlines on today’s economic numbers, in my opinion, show how public perceptions can be easily skewed by corporate media.

When Biden’s economy added 266,000 jobs in May 2021, the Times headline read “Job Growth Slowed in April, Muddling Expectations.” Today, for 172,000 jobs, a smaller number, the headline reads “172,000 Jobs Added in May as U.S. Labor Market Upswing Continues,” with the subheader touting “vigorous, strong” signs for the economy. The double standard is not subtle.

Meanwhile, forecasters are now projecting the U.S. will hit the $41 trillion debt ceiling as soon as late winter. Treasury could use extraordinary measures to delay default for a few months after that, but the clock is running.

The DOJ Just Argued It Can Demolish the Statue of Liberty

In an appeals court argument over the White House ballroom construction, Trump’s DOJ argued that the federal government has the right to bulldoze the Statue of Liberty, and that once the demolition is complete, no court would have standing to stop it or remedy it. Judge Millett asked the DOJ directly: if the government moves fast enough to destroy the Statue of Liberty before anyone can get an injunction, the people whose ancestors saw it as their first glimpse of America — nothing can be done? The DOJ’s answer: “I think that’s right, yes.”

They also argued the ballroom construction cannot be stopped by courts even if the administration openly violated the law to build it, because it’s too far along now and only Congress can intervene.

And while this argument was happening in court, Trump posted a selfie video of himself golfing.

Essentially, their argument is that if they break something quick enough, nothing can be done to stop them. Let’s see what the courts think about that.

Senate Jams Through Reconciliation In the Dead of Night

Senate Republicans passed their $70 billion reconciliation bill funding ICE and Customs and Border Protection in a 52-47 vote after an all-night vote-a-rama. Senator Lisa Murkowski was the only Republican to vote no. The bill contains no limits on Trump’s “weaponization fund.” Every amendment to restrict it failed. The House takes it up next week.

On a different note, the House did pass the bipartisan Ukraine Support Act, 226-195, providing $8 billion in military financing loans, an additional $1 billion in security assistance, and major new sanctions on Russia. Eighteen Republicans broke with Speaker Mike Johnson, who had privately urged his conference to vote no, to get it across the line. Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister called it an important step forward. However, the Senate is not expected to take it up, and Trump would likely veto it anyway. Wouldn’t want to upset his buddy Vlad.

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Courts Push Back on Immigration Overreach

A federal judge in Rhode Island issued a 135-page ruling striking down a sweeping set of Trump immigration policies, finding that they had placed immigrants in what he called “indeterminate legal limbo” driven by anti-immigrant sentiment the government is legally forbidden from acting on. Judge John J. McConnell Jr. found that USCIS had imposed an indefinite pause on immigration benefit processing for nationals of 39 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East — blocking asylum applications, work permits, green cards, and citizenship petitions. The freeze was put in place following the November shooting of two National Guard members in Washington by an Afghan national. Over six months later, the judge found, many of the affected individuals still have no work authorization, no legal status, and no ability to make any plans for their lives.

Good News! NYC Sets a Record

Here’s a piece of genuinely good news. New York City has recorded its fewest murders and shootings in the first five months of any year in the city’s recorded history, under Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Lots of people tried to downplay the lower crime numbers by saying the cold weather in the earlier months of the year was to thank. Can’t make that excuse anymore!

Albania Is on Fire Over the Ivanka-Kushner Project

Protests have now entered yet another night in Albania over Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump’s luxury resort project on protected land. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama went on camera to dismiss the demonstrations as a “hybrid war against Albania” and to wave off suggestions that the project has anything to do with Netanyahu or with relocating Palestinians. Whether you believe him or not, the protests are real, they’re growing, and they represent exactly the kind of global backlash that Trump’s brand of corruption inspires wherever it touches down.

That’s it for now. Check back later for more. Thanks again for all your support, and remember to add the MeidasTouch Podcast on your favorite audio platforms. It really helps (and it’s free)!

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… From Trump’s 1:00 AM posting rampage:

• “There’s BIG cheating by the Dumocrats in California. Votes are all tied up. May not be in for weeks. Under investigation by the US Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles. Why the vote counting DELAY???”

• “The Dumocrats are at it again! They are trying to STEAL THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA PRIMARY, AND THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES, PRIMARY, AWAY FROM TWO GREAT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES. Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of MAIL IN BALLOTS.”

… Ron Desantis, who continues to angle for a job in the Trump admin, chimed in: “California keeps dumping votes. Odds are shifting because the vote dumps always seem to go one way. Count until you get the result you want?”

… Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins got destroyed today in a hearing before House Ag Committee:

• Ranking Dem Angie Craig: “Do you know how many farms we lost in US last year? Rollins: You’re talking about bankruptcy? About 315 farms. Craig: We lost 15,000 farms. Some 3rd, 4th generation family farms, because of bad policy from this admin.”

• Craig: “Do you know how much money farmers lost last year? Rollins: (Long pause, blank stare, smile, no answer). Craig: It was $28 billion. Rollins: It depends how you calculate that because you aren’t counting all the programs that went into supporting our farmers. Craig: Right, and if it wasn’t for the policies of this admin we wouldn’t need all that govt support for farmers because we’d have export markets still left. “

• Craig: “What is the national avg for farm diesel? Rollins: Well, diesel has increased because of the Iranian conflict. Under the last admin - Craig: Madam Secretary, Joe Biden is no longer the president. Trump is. Your party controls Congress. You own these numbers. Since you don’t know the answer, in May the avg price of diesel was $5.41 a gallon. That’s up 95% from a year ago.”

• Craig: “Do you know what percentage of farmers now say they can’t afford fertilizer as a result of Trump’s war in Iran? Rollins: Well, it depends on the geographic location. An exasperated Craig: Oh my God. 70% is the answer.”

• Craig: “You bragged on TV about kicking 4 million people off SNAP benefits. Rollins: The righteousness of work is not - Craig: 700,000 kids. Rollins: Getting back to work is the goal of these welfare programs.”

• Rep. Jim McGovern: “Do you stand by your comment that kicking people off food assistance is somehow ‘good news’? Rollins: Most of those were fraudulent. McGovern: I’ve talked to people who lost benefits. They were kicked off of SNAP. Hunger is getting worse in the US. We all should be ashamed of that.”

• McGovern: “Do you believe pesticide companies deserve liability protection? Rollins: We cannot destroy our farmers’ ability to plant. McGovern: So even though you say glyphosate is safe, you believe they should have some sort of liability protection?”

• Rep. Shontel Brown: “So this is what a golden age of agriculture looks like? Because if rising bankruptcies, falling farm income, and worsening financial conditions are a sign of a golden age, I’d hate to see what a downturn looks like.”

… Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testified before House Ways and Means:

• Rep. Mike Thompson: “What should I tell my constituents when they ask about these costs? Farmers who are being hit by high costs of fuel and fertilizer, who can’t get their product to market because of the War in Iran - should I tell them it’s ‘golden’? Bessent: You should tell them we’ve had 2.6% GDP growth since Trump took office. Thompson: These farmers are pretty smart, and they’re not gonna fall for that line.”

• Rep. Loretta Sanchez: “Do you believe that all Americans should follow our tax laws? Bessent: Yes. Sanchez: So why is it you are allowing Trump to have complete immunity from being audited? Bessent: I am unable to comment on any ongoing litigation. Sanchez: Can you name the ongoing case? Bessent: I will get you the names of the cases and get back to you.”

• Bessent: “Trump cares about Americans’ financial situation. Rep. Judy Chu: Well, he actually said that he doesn’t. Bessent: No, that is a truncated thing like everything is. He is future-proofing - because Americans financial situation would be devastated if Iran got a nuclear weapon.”

• Chu: “Was your prediction that Americans would face only 50 days of elevated prices because of the war wrong? You said Americans would face only 50 days. We’re at 100 days now. Bessent: How much has gasoline prices come down from the peak? That’s an inconvenient fact. Chu: Gas prices are up by 50% since Trump’s war started.”

… Financial Times: “Trump’s Iran war has driven US oil stocks to their lowest level in two decades as his admin drains stockpiles to contain surging prices and exporters capitalize on the drop in Middle Eastern supply. US govt data shows stocks of crude and petroleum products fell by 10.6M barrels last week to 1.57B barrels - the lowest level since 2004. The sharp fall triggered new warnings from industry analysts that oil prices are poised to move sharply higher again within weeks.”

… Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy Group, warned prices could reach $200 per barrel this summer unless the Strait of Hormuz was reopened: “You start to raise the risk of spillover into other sectors, the economy and financial system. It detonates fragilities in the broader economy and financial system.”

… WSJ: Senators Privately Ask Graham Platner Whether New Allegations Will Emerge. Maine Senate candidate tells Democratic lawmakers, “The worst of the rumors we’ve all heard are not true” and denied credible allegations of assault are forthcoming.

… Democratic campaign consultant Michael Trujillo: “Umm yeah, not trying to disclose everything I do, but YES there is more on Platner and anyone saying there isn’t is 100% gaslighting you. NYT was expected to publish last night, was delayed by Platner’s lawyers. Story is about his ex GF alleging some kind of assault. He would block her from exiting rooms with his size, she would be frightened. Uncontrollable fits of anger. She called friends and family, documented.”

… “Yes she’s a former GOP operative. Partisanship isn’t the reason she is finally coming forward. Felt the public and Maine should know what they are voting for - this is a rough summary.

… Then the story from NYT: “On Tues evening, after a whirlwind day in Washington, Graham Platner rushed home. Rumors were spreading from Portland to the Potomac about Platner’s messy personal life, after news reports that he had sent sexual messages to women while married. Democratic senators were pressing him about whether more damaging revelations were coming. Journalists were swarming, staking out his hometown.”

… “Amid the turmoil, Platner worked the phones, rolling through calls to ex-girlfriends who might publicly acknowledge that while he may have been a bad boyfriend, he was, in fact, a decent guy. In extensive conversations over the past two months, 3 women who had been romantically involved with Platner offered a complicated assessment, describing volatile and ‘toxic’ relationships that were unsettling and at times emotionally wrenching.”

… “Platner could be charming and charismatic, they recalled in interviews, but also demeaning to women and, in at least one case, even physically threatening. He drank heavily and was regularly unfaithful.”

… AOC was asked today if Dems should drop Platner after the latest story: "Um you know, I haven’t waded into that primary. I don’t believe the primary has occurred yet. So I will kind of, you know, again, I don’t wade in on that. I haven’t weighed in on that right now.”

… She then walked away from reporters.

… Trump’s name is now officially coming off the Kennedy Center. CBS: “Lawyers for what is currently called the Trump Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts are instructing staff to immediately begin switching the name of the facility back to its original title.”

… “The instructions, laid out in a memo sent Thursday by the center’s general counsel and obtained by CBS News, are the first official signal the national arts hub is complying with a federal court order to drop Trump’s name and reconsider plans to close for two years of renovations. Changes to interior and exterior signage and any furniture carrying the current name must be switched back by next Friday.”

… We are going to do our very best to have someone on scene to film that moment if we get any notice of it from anyone.

… Lawfare: “At least 97 of the more than 1,500 individuals granted clemency by Trump for their roles in the January 6 Capitol attack have been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of crimes separate from J6 since their participation in the J6 riot.”

… “A Lawfare study reveals that almost 1 in 16 insurrectionists subject to the president’s clemency order has been arrested for and charged with—and in the vast majority of cases convicted of—other crimes, at least some of which were actively enabled by the clemency actions.”

… “The alleged crimes by J6 defendants since Jan. 6, 2021, run the gamut from relatively low-grade offenses like property damage, possession of drug paraphernalia, and trespassing to serious felonies like grand larceny, stalking, planning to assassinate law enforcement officials and prominent politicians, and defrauding govt agencies. One J6 pardonee was convicted in Feb. 2026 of child molestation and sentenced to life in prison. Another was convicted in 2025 of reckless homicide.”

… “At least 14, meanwhile, have been charged with sex crimes or crimes related to child sexual abuse material, and at least 6 have faced domestic violence charges. Others have faced charges for physical assaults, illegal firearms possession, or other violent crimes. At least 20 have been charged with DUI or public intoxication.”

… AP: “Former Trump NSA John Bolton has agreed to plead guilty to a single count of retaining classified info under a deal with DOJ that could allow him to avoid prison time. The deal would resolve a criminal case that charged Bolton with 18 counts of either retaining or disseminating classified info. Bolton would also face a $2.25 million fine. Any prison sentence would be capped at 5 years, but the agreement allows for him to avoid time behind bars, though the punishment will ultimately be up to a judge.”

… Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) to Fox: “Q - It sounded like the other night that the president didn’t think that this, weaponization fund had been put to bed. Does Todd Blanche need to clean this up again? Tillis: The right hand and the left hand need to figure out what the hell they’re doing, because I heard a guy who just got put forth as AG say it’s dead. And if it’s dead, we should be able to codify that and be done with it.”

… House Dem Leader Hakeem Jeffries told Meidas that he doesn’t believe Blanche that Trump’s slush fund to pay criminals is dead: “We believe it is imperative for Congress to act. We need to bury it into the ground and ensure it can never rise again. We can claw back anything that has been done in January, and we are prepared to do that.”

I completely unplugged yesterday because my daughter was in town from FL and we took a ferry out to an island here in Maine for the day. It certainly looked like it was a pretty crazy day when got caught up on the news this morning, but since this is “today in politics” I focused this Bulletin on what happened today. Today certainly had more than enough news and drama.

I did do my weekly podcast Uncovered before that, which you can find here. You can find the last Bulletin here.

… WaPo’s Dan Diamond: “For years, Trump took a hair-loss drug - Propecia (finasteride). Now it’s no longer on his medical reports. I asked the WH if Trump still uses it, and officials said they’re not obligated to disclose all his medications. Of course, it’s just a hair-loss drug. And Trump’s allies have mocked the ongoing focus on the president’s health. But physicians and medical ethicists say - if the WH won’t be transparent about Propecia, will they be honest about bigger health matters?”

… Dr. Jonathan Reiner: “Since WH won’t disclose if he’s taking finasteride we don’t know why his PSA has risen 10x from last yr’s 0.1 to 1.0 now. Did he stop taking the drug, or is he still taking it and now there’s something going on with his prostate? That’s why it’s important. An incomplete medical report is not a credible report. They

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