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' This Is Who He Is': Trump Niece Accuses President Of 'Stoking' Violence

Mary Trump — the niece of President Donald Trump — recently said her uncle plays a significant role in the escalation of political violence in the United States.

During a Thursday interview with former CNN host Jim Acosta, Mary Trump agreed with Acosta when he said that Trump was incapable of being a "consoler-in-chief" in the wake of the murder of 31 year-old MAGA activist Charlie Kirk. She said her uncle was "pouring gasoline on a raging fire" by singularly blaming the political left for Kirk's death.

"He will never change. He's been the same person for decades. And quite frankly, he's been rewarded for being this person. So it's a fool's errand to suggest that he will ever change."

Acosta reminded viewers that despite Trump's promise to find and prosecute the person responsible for shooting Kirk, he said nothing about the death of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman (D) when she was assassinated by a far-right activist in June. And he lamented that Trump didn't call Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) after Hortman's shooting, saying it would have been a "waste of time."

Mary Trump agreed with Acosta, and went on to argue that the media was so far absolving the president for his role in exacerbating political divisions in the U.S.. She argued that her uncle was engaging in a "slippery slope" of suggesting that Democrats should be "targeted" in the wake of Kirk's murder.

"I see people still giving him the benefit of the doubt, and it is mystifying to me. Because how much more evidence do we need really, that this is who he is and this kind of behavior benefits him?" She said. "Just as the divisiveness — he is largely responsible for stoking in this country over the last decade — benefits him and protects him."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Epstein Joked About Selling 'Fully Depreciated' Woman To Pal Donald

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are now releasing new images from the infamous "birthday book" that convicted child trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell – who was pedophile Jeffrey Epstein's chief accomplice — assembled for Epstein for his 50th birthday. One image appears to show President Donald Trump and references a deal involving an unnamed woman and tens of thousands of dollars.

The image, which Oversight Committee Democrats posted to their official X account on Monday, appears to show the woman (whose face has been redacted), Trump, an unknown Mar-a-Lago member and Epstein all holding up an enlarged check bearing Trump's signature. A handwritten note is seen under the image, and although the note is not signed, the writing appears similar to Epstein's own, according to public records.

"Jeffrey showing early talents with money + women! Sells 'fully depreciated' [REDACTED] to Donald Trump for $22,500," the note read. "Showed early 'people skills' too. Even though I handled the deal I didn't get any of the money or the girl!"

Investigative journalist Jacqueline Sweet alleged the Mar-a-Lago member seen in the photo is Joel Pashcow, who was also seen sitting in close proximity to Epstein in a separate photo from 1994. Sweet also observed that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy was in the photo close to both Pashcow and Epstein. Kennedy admitted to flying on Epstein's jet on two separate occasions in the 1990s.

The release of the photo comes on the heels of a separate photo the Wall Street Journal released of Trump's purported message to Epstein as part of the book. As the Journal reported earlier this year, the message imagines a conversation between Trump and Epstein in which Trump said that the two men "have certain things in common" and share "a wonderful secret." The message is outlined by a drawing in the shape of a woman's torso, with Trump's signature in the approximate area of the woman's pubic region.

"We got the Epstein note Trump says doesn’t exist," Oversight Committee ranking member Robert Garcia (D-CA) tweeted. "Time to end this White House cover-up."

Earlier on Monday, White House spokesperson Taylor Budowich tweeted several of Trump's signatures and disputed that the signature seen on the letter was not from the president. However, conservative attorney George Conway tweeted a photo of a letter Trump sent him in 2006, in which the signature at the bottom was nearly identical to the one seen in the lewd birthday message.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

'Very Hostile': White House Bullies Republicans Over Epstein Files Release

The House of Representatives is weighing a bipartisan effort to force a vote on the full release of documents pertaining to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, but President Donald Trump is actively discouraging Republicans from backing it.

That's according to a statement the White House released Tuesday evening, which was tweeted by NOTUS reporter Daniella Diaz. An unnamed administration spokesperson cautioned House Republicans against signing on in support of a discharge petition by Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) that Massie announced Tuesday.

"Helping Thomas Massie and Liberal Democrats with their attention-seeking, while the DOJ is fully supporting a more comprehensive file release effort from the oversight committee, would be viewed as a very hostile act to the administration," the spokesperson said.

The threat from the White House comes as Massie and Khanna are planning a Wednesday morning press conference in which several Epstein victims — including some speaking out for the first time — are planning to share their stories with Capitol reporters. And should Congress and the Trump administration continue to stymie efforts to release the files, some victims have indicated they plan to possibly name additional accomplices who allegedly helped Epstein exploit young girls.

Massie told MSNBC on Tuesday that Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Nancy Mace (R-SC) have already signed the petition. This means that, assuming all Democrats sign the petition, the full House could vote on releasing the Epstein files if just two more Republicans add their names.

If the bipartisan petition gets 218 votes, it would circumvent House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and bring a vote directly to the floor on whether to compel the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release all of the remaining Epstein-related files that have yet to be seen by the public. The New York Times reported in July that the DOJ is sitting on an estimated 100,000 pages of unreleased materials.

According to ABC News, the unreleased Epstein evidence categorized by the FBI includes several notable items, including a logbook of visitors to Epstein's "Little Saint James Island," which housed his private compound. The FBI also reportedly indexed "a document with names," which may be the rumored "client list" that Attorney General Pam Bondi has insisted doesn't exist.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Trump Biographer: President Worrying Over Epstein Files Release

President Donald Trump's administration is becoming increasingly worried about the ramifications of Congress reviewing documents relating to convicted child predator Jeffrey Epstein.

That's according to New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman, who reported on the administration's nervousness over the partial release of some of the Epstein files in a Thursday appearance on CNN. Haberman told host Brianna Keilar that Trump's photo-op with law enforcement in Washington D.C. on Thursday night could be viewed as an attempt to distract the media from Friday's release of documents to the House Oversight Committee.

"He is mindful. It is in the back of his mind to try to keep Epstein out of the news," she said. "I think we don't quite know what this is going to look like tomorrow, but he, absolutely, and certainly a lot of his advisers, were happy that Epstein has not been front-and-center as an issue for the last few weeks."

As PBS reported earlier this week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is planning on releasing some of the estimated 100,000 pages of Epstein-related files to the Oversight Committee in response to a recent subpoena. The administration has so far not said what would be in the initial release of documents, and it remains unclear whether the committee will make those files publicly available following its review.

ABC News has reported that some of the unreleased evidence categorized by the FBI includes logbooks of visitors to Epstein's "Little Saint James" Island (which housed his private compound) and "a document with names," which could be the rumored "Epstein list" that Attorney General Pam Bondi has publicly insisted does not exist.

When Keilar asked Haberman how the Trump administration was preparing for eventual media coverage surrounding the new documents, the Times reporter said the DOJ knew unfavorable coverage was "sort of baked in for them." Haberman added that the "big question" of whether to share the files with the public still remains open.

"Do they ever turn these files over publicly, which they clearly have the ability to do and just have chosen not to do it, and instead have looked for judges to release grand jury testimony?" Haberman said. "The judges have said [the grand jury records] don't contain some kind of a smoking gun."

"They know what's coming and they have their talking points," she added. "It's just that it's not a topic that any of them enjoy."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Swamp Critters: White House Staffers Grab Lucrative Lobbyist Jobs

Multiple people inside President Donald Trump's administration are already jumping ship after less than a year on the job and are securing highly lucrative jobs as lobbyists.

That's according to a Wednesday article by Politico's Caitlin Oprysko and Sophia Cai, who reported that high-profile lobbying firms are now scooping up several Trump administration staffers who have only been in the White House for a handful of months. Oprysko and Cai noted that the Washington D.C. "revolving door" between lobbying and government that Trump promised to bulldoze with his 2016 "drain the swamp" mantra remains alive and well given the announcement of the new hires.

"[B]arely a half-year into his second administration, a handful of senior White House aides are already heading for the exits — and right through the revolving door between the federal government and K Street, where they’re lining up cushy lobbying gigs," they wrote.

White House principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields is leaving the administration to join the Republican-run lobbying firm CGCN Group, after just seven months in his previous role. Fields was often quoted as a White House spokesperson in major media outlets, accusing NPR and PBS of "creating media to support a particular political party on the taxpayers' dime" in a May article for Axios and justifying Trump's attacks on large law firms for having allegedly "propelled one-sided justice by providing pro bono resources to those causes that make our nation more dangerous and less free" in a recent Wall Street Journal report.

In addition to Fields' exit, Trent Morse — who is a deputy assistant to the president and the deputy director of the White House's Office of Presidential Personnel — is launching his own lobbying firm, while also teaming up with the powerhouse lobbying firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, who worked alongside Morse at two other lobbying firms over the last decade, heaped praise on Morse as he made his exit, calling him "an important and integral part of the successes we’ve had."

Ivan Adler, who runs an executive hiring firm in Washington, told Politico that the early exits of senior Trump staffers was proof that so many lobbying clients are "looking for a sherpa for this administration, just because it’s so different," and that "people are taking advantage" of their knowledge by hiring them directly from the White House.

Federal law requires a year-long "cooling off" period from the time a former government worker leaves their position to when they can begin officially lobbying the West Wing and representing foreign entities, meaning that for Fields and Morse, their cooling off window will be longer than their actual time serving in the White House. However, they can begin lobbying Congress immediately.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

'Lost Leverage': Top Law Firms That Bowed To Trump Now Ignore Him

Even though President Donald Trump's administration secured promises from some of the nation's biggest law firms to contribute more than $1 billion worth of pro bono work to further the administration's goals, the White House is now reportedly having a hard time getting some of those firms to follow through on their promises.

According to a Thursday report in the Wall Street Journal, many of those promises law firms made to perform free legal services have already been broken. This could be partially due to the success that firms who have sued in response to Trump's executive orders targeting them have had in court, with the Journal reporting that all four firms that fought back have so far prevailed. And firms that haven't fulfilled their commitments are reportedly hoping the administration will be too distracted with the work of governing to follow through on threats to suspend security clearances, federal contracts and access to federal buildings.

The Journal reported that the firms that agreed to help Trump only typically perform between $4 million and $5 million worth of pro bono work per year, meaning that in order to fulfill some of those commitments — like the firm Skadden's $100 million promise — it would take decades. And because Trump will leave office in January of 2029, many firms likely aren't taking their commitment to his administration seriously.

The paper further reported that far-right groups who have inundated the firms with requests for legal assistance have so far been stiff-armed. This includes the far-right Heritage Foundation (which is responsible for the notorious Project 2025 playbook), which has asked for help but has yet to receive any outside of initial meetings with some attorneys.

And while Attorney General Pam Bondi has asked the Department of Justice to create ways to help law enforcement officers facing misconduct allegations receive free legal representation from the firms in question, none of them have responded to inquiries. California-based attorney Harry Stern, who represents police officers facing legal proceedings, told the Journal: "It's not happening."

Gary DiBianco, who leads a pro bono litigation group, told the Journal that the administration has likely lost its credibility with any lawyers it hopes to strong-arm into performing free work.

"I think the administration has completely lost the leverage it has over future firms," DiBianco said.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Ivanka's New White House Job? UFC Fight Promoter

President Donald Trump's eldest daughter, Ivanka, has been noticeably quieter during his second term compared to his first presidency. But according to one of the president's biggest allies, that may be about to change.

The Daily Beast reported Tuesday that Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president and CEO Dana White said the first daughter asked him if she could spearhead an event commemorating the 250th anniversary of the United States' founding next year. White told CBS that Ivanka would be taking a leading role in organizing a UFC fight on the White House grounds next summer.

“When [Trump] called me and asked me to do it, he said, 'I want Ivanka in the middle of this,'” White said. “So Ivanka reached out to me, and her and I started talking about the possibilities, where it would be and, you know, I put together all the renderings."

White — who spoke at the Republican National Convention in 2024 and frequently donates to Republicans across the United States — has invited the president to sit cageside at multiple UFC events, and donated $1 million to a pro-Trump political action committee last year. He assured CBS that the White House UFC fight was "definitely going to happen" on July 4, 2026, to launch a year-long celebration of the country's founding.

Should Ivanka follow through on her plan to help organize the fight, it would be a milestone for the first daughter during her father's second term given her conspicuous absence. In January, shortly before Trump's second inauguration, Ivanka told the Him & Her podcast that she intended to stay away from the beltway even as her father was back in the White House.

"I love policy and impact. I hate politics. And unfortunately, the two are not separable," she said. "There is a darkness to that world that I don’t really want to welcome into mine."

Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, were senior White House advisors during Trump's first presidency. However, she publicly distanced herself from her father after he falsely claimed that the 2020 election was stolen from him, and during her 2023 testimony in his New York fraud trial, Ivanka — who lives in Florida — claimed to not be closely involved in her father's business affairs.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

'Perfect Guy': Bannon Thrilled By Trump Pick To Oversee Jobs Data

President Donald Trump has announced E.J. Antoni as his new nominee to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), and he already has a lengthy resume as a staunch MAGA acolyte.

That's according to a Monday article in Bloomberg, which reported that Antoni – who is currently the chief economist at the far-right Heritage Foundation — has previously been praised by former Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. During an appearance on Bannon's "War Room" podcast following the release of July's anemic jobs report, both Bannon and Antoni lamented that a "MAGA Republican" wasn't in charge of the BLS.

"Steve, we still haven’t gotten there," Antoni said earlier this month. "And I think that’s part of the reason why we continue to have all of these different data problems."

Trump fired former BLS commissioner Erika McEntarfer after the July 2025 jobs report showed that not only did new job creation fall well below expectations, but that previous job growth numbers had to be revised downward after the BLS incorporated new data (which has been a routine practice under both Democratic and Republican administrations). Bannon pushed for Antoni — who Bloomberg reports helped author Heritage's authoritarian Project 2025 policy blueprint — to replace McEntarfer, calling him "the perfect guy at the perfect time to run the BLS."

During his appearance on Bannon's podcast, Antoni praised former BLS commissioner William Beach, who Trump nominated for the role in 2017, as a "great guy" and a "brilliant statistician." That praise is particularly ironic given that on Monday, Beach criticized both Trump and conservative economist Stephen Moore for misconstruing McEntarfer's jobs data in a press conference last week.

"He should have known better than to do that," Beach said, adding that Moore's numbers were "the strangest thing in the world."

Trump praised Antoni in a post to his Truth Social platform, calling him a "Highly Respected Economist" in his signature style of oddly placed capitalization, and added that jobs reports under Antoni's leadership would be "HONEST and ACCURATE." The president insisted that "Our Economy is booming" and that Antoni "will do an incredible job in this new role."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Top Trump Officials Meet To Spin Epstein Response

As the Jeffrey Epstein controversy continues to drag on, President Donald Trump's administration is now scrambling to find a way out. And according to a new report, top White House officials will soon meet to assemble a game plan on how to put the Epstein fallout behind them.

CNN reported Tuesday that Vice President JD Vance will host a Wednesday night dinner at his official residence, which will be attended by White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel. According to the network's three unnamed sources, the "main focus" of the dinner will be primarily to "craft a unified response" to the administration's handling of the Epstein case.

Two of CNN's sources said the White House considers those officials to be the point people on the Epstein case. Bondi in particular has reportedly been told to shoulder the bulk of the burden over Epstein, with the administration stating that the matter "resides within the DOJ."

Those in attendance are also expected to discuss whether to publish audio recordings of Blanche's interviews with convicted child trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, who was Epstein's chief co-conspirator. Blanche reportedly interviewed Maxwell for nine hours in July, in which she gave up information on approximately 100 people.

One downside of releasing those recordings, according to one source, is that it risks keeping the Epstein story alive in the news cycle. And some officials believe the story has "died down" enough to warrant not publishing those materials. If the Maxwell interview recordings were made public, it could be done in the next several weeks, according to CNN.

Maxwell was later transferred from her Gainesville, Florida prison to a minimum-security federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas — despite violent offenders not being eligible to serve their sentences in facilities like Bryan. And while Trump hasn't publicly decided whether to pardon Maxwell, former DOJ pardon attorney Liz Oyer recently argued that there are multiple signs that the convicted child predator could ultimately be offered a pardon or a commutation of her 20-year sentence.

The administration brushed off the reports of potentially releasing interview transcripts, with White House spokesperson Steven Cheung saying: "This is nothing more than CNN trying desperately to create news out of old news."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Epstein Victim Recalled Him Introducing Her To Trump At Age 14

With the possibility looming of President Donald Trump pardoning convicted child predator and Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, testimony from her trial is standing out that sheds new light on the nature of Trump's friendship with Epstein.

In a Thursday article for the Daily Beast, special correspondent Michael Daly delved into testimony from Epstein victim "Jane," who was groomed by Maxwell and Epstein as a young teenager. Jane took the stand against Maxwell in her 2021 trial, and described how she was approached and eventually taken in by Epstein and his longtime girlfriend and partner in crime while she was at summer camp.

Jane, who had recently lost her father, was between seventh and eighth grade at a summer arts camp in Interlochen, Michigan in 1994 when she saw Maxwell walking a small dog. When Jane and her friends asked if they could pet the dog, "a man came and joined" Maxwell, who she later learned was Jeffrey Epstein. After a brief conversation in which Epstein mentioned owning the land where the camp was built and funding scholarships for kids, he invited the girl and her mother to his home in West Palm Beach, Florida, telling her that he knew her mother.

Jane went on to say in her testimony that Epstein would frequently "name-drop" multiple celebrity connections, including "Donald Trump, Bill Clinton [and] Mike Wallace," and continued inviting her to his home — but not her mother. She added that Epstein and Maxwell would "sometimes put people on speakerphones whose voices I didn’t know and then say, Oh, well, this was so-and-so and so-and-so; and just, you know, say that they were very well-connected and affluent.”

According to Jane, Epstein introduced her to Trump in December of 1994 at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. In a 2020 civil suit, Jane alleged that during the encounter, "Epstein elbowed Trump playfully asking him, referring to [Jane], ‘This is a good one, right?’ Trump smiled and nodded in agreement. They both chuckled and [Jane} felt uncomfortable, but, at the time, was too young to understand why."

The questions surrounding Trump and Epstein's relationship have prompted the president to shift his stories the more journalists press him on the issue. While Trump has maintained he kicked Epstein out of his club for "being a creep," he said earlier this week that he revoked his Mar-a-Lago membership after Epstein "stole" staff from him, including then-17 year-old Mar-a-Lago spa attendant Virginia Giuffre (an Epstein victim who died by suicide earlier this year at the age of 41).

Trump has so far not ruled out a pardon for Maxwell, who met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche for two days at the federal prison in Florida where she is currently serving a 20-year sentence. Maxwell reportedly gave up information on roughly "100 people" during her interviews with Blanche.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

by Taboola Sponsored LinksYou May Like Study: Common Toxin Silently Erasing Memory FunctionBrain Health

Click here to read Daly's full article in the Daily Beast (subscription required).

Report typos and corrections to: feedback@alternet.org.

Do you believe Trump is lying about the extent of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein?

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More Than 20 House Republicans Now Opposing Trump Budget Bill

President Donald Trump was hoping that the House of Representatives would pass the U.S. Senate's version of H.R. 1 — his "Big Beautiful Bill" — as-is. But that looks to be increasingly unlikely.

That's according to a Tuesday article in Axios, which reported that a growing number of House Republicans are threatening to revolt over the changes the Republican-controlled Senate made to the legislation the House previously passed by a one-vote margin. According to one of Axios' unnamed Republican sources in the House, there are now "well over 20" House Republicans who are now against Trump's signature domestic policy package.

"Our bill has been completely changed," said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), who is a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus. "It's a non-starter."

One of those Republicans is likely Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) who is another stridently conservative Freedom Caucus member. Ogles announced on his official X account that he filed an amendment that would delete the Senate bill's full text and replace it with the House's previously passed version.

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), who chaired the Freedom Caucus between 2019 and 2022, told Punchbowl News on Tuesday: "I’m talking to colleagues and I don’t know anyone who’s happy." Also on Tuesday, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) dismissed claims that the Senate bill was fiscally responsible as "garbage." The pushback from House Republicans comes despite Trump threatening GOP members of the House that they could "suffer the consequences" if they don't pass the legislation expeditiously.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) acknowledged the revolt within the House Republican Conference, but insisted he was focused on passing the Senate bill verbatim, so it could advance directly to President Trump's desk without having to go back to the Senate. He added he would "do everything possible" to pass the Senate version ahead of Republicans' self-imposed July 4 deadline.

"I'm not happy with what the Senate did to our product, but we understand this is the process. It goes back and forth. And we will be working to get all our members to yes," Johnson told reporters on Tuesday.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Former GOP Governor Warns Trump Bill Will Devastate Rural Health Care

The Republican-controlled. Senate is expected to vote Monday night on President Donald Trump's signature domestic policy legislation, and one former high-ranking Republican is now urging his fellow conservatives to take a stand against it.

During a Monday segment on MSNBC's "The Weeknight," former Montana Governor Marc Racicot — a Republican who led the Big Sky State between 1993 and 2001 — slammed the bill as uniquely harmful for Americans in rural states like his. After hosts Michael Steele, Symone Sanders-Townsend and Alicia Melendez played a clip of Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) defending the bill as good for the country, Racicot blasted his fellow Republicans as being in thrall of an "autocrat" and being more afraid of angering Trump than hurting their own constituents.

"That's patent nonsense. It's absolutely ludicrous," Racicot said. "In the state of Montana ... we have 56 counties. We're spread over 150,000 square miles, and 50 out of our 56 counties do not have the kind of facilities that allow for people to be treated without Medicare and without Medicaid."

"We don't have rural clinics or hospitals that can respond," he continued. "In addition to that, we have we have seven Indian reservations that, again, are placed in in harm's way ... the infrastructure that we put in place as a result of Medicaid serves those families as well. So it's just unbelievable to me that these Republicans would proceed thinking that they're people of conscience, and somehow they're doing something good for the country. I don't think they even know what's in the bill."

The Senate's version of the legislation already cuts Medicaid by roughly $1 trillion over 10 years, meaning many rural hospitals in predominantly red states like Montana are at risk of closing if the current version of the bill is signed into law. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va) has already acknowledged that her constituents could be deeply impacted by the legislation.

Racicot went on to opine that one main reason the bill could be passed is because Republicans in Congress are operating "upon the basis of bigotry and the whining and complaining and grievance and resentment" of their fellow Americans. He added that it was "incredibly unfortunate" that so many members of his party were working "to the great detriment of the people of this country."

"What I'm really fearful of is that when they find out what this does, when they learn what it is — and I wish we could avoid the catastrophe — but I'm fearful we can't avoid this calamity until it happens," Racicot said. "And then it's going to be an ultimate disaster."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

'We've Been Lied To': Margie Says Iran Strike Exposed Ruinous Rift In GOP

One of President Donald Trump's loudest supporters in Congress has become increasingly vocal in her opposition to his latest decision to conduct strikes on Iran.

CNN reported Monday that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is now directly warning her party that the "very big divide" could end up costing Republicans their majorities in Congress next year if the GOP becomes bogged down in another foreign war while Americans' material needs go unmet. The Georgia Republican sought to stake out common ground between herself and the president, telling CNN that both she and Trump were elected on a promise of "no more foreign wars, no more regime change."

"We’ve been lied to too many times, and I think it’s right to be skeptical," Greene said in response to a question about whether Trump's policies risked losing the support of the MAGA faithful.

"If this war were to continue, and we were to see, sadly, see American troops coming home with on flag-draped coffins, I think you would see Americans totally saying the same thing I’m saying, I hope that never happens again," Greene said, emphasizing that she still believes "President Trump has us on a path to peace."

According to Greene — who has consistently opposed sending resources to Ukraine in its war with Russia — American voters are expecting their leaders to put their concerns front and center, arguing that voters are "very much focused on their American life and their American problems." And she said that new escalations in the Middle East could prove to be a tipping point for many voters next fall.

"Republicans need to earn Americans’ votes," she said. "I don’t think we’re earning our votes in the midterm, and that’s on Congress."

Greene unleashed on the Trump administration on social media earlier on Monday, saying that as a 51 year-old American, she had "watched our country go to war in foreign lands for foreign causes on behalf of foreign interests for as long as I can remember." And she added that while she supports Israel's right to defend itself, she opposed U.S. military involvement in Israeli matters.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Bad News For Trump's New (Made In China) Smartphone Venture

Earlier this week, the Trump Organization (President Donald Trump's family-run business) unveiled its latest business venture – a smartphone that the company says is made in the United States. But that's an impossible feat, according to one American smartphone manufacturer.

ABC News reported that Trump Mobile will soon roll out a new phone dubbed the "T1," which its selling for $499 apiece. The company is offering plans for $47.45 per month (a nod to Trump being the 45th and 47th president of the United States) and promises to use the same communication networks that the biggest three cell service providers rely on for their coverage (Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T). CNBC reported that the phones will likely be made in China.

And according to Todd Weaver, who is the founder and CEO of Purism — the only smartphone manufacturer based in the U.S. — there's no way to end-run China in the supply chain. Weaver told NBC News on Wednesday that making a phone entirely in the United States costs a lot more than what the Trump Organization is aiming to get for the T1 phones.

Purism's Liberty phone, which costs $2,000, has a higher price tag than the iPhone 16 Pro, and only half of its memory capacity. It's also significantly thicker, and users are somewhat limited in the number of apps they can install on the device. And Weaver said that while approximately 90 percent of the phone's components come from the United States, Canada and Europe, a crystal that makes the device's motherboard work is only available in China.

"There just isn’t a company yet providing that single crystal," Weaver told NBC.

Weaver also said that it took approximately six years from the time Purism was founded in 2014 to the point where it could start manufacturing phones, whereas Trump Mobile has promised to build a phone from scratch in the United States and begin selling it this August. The Purism CEO added that Trump's mercurial approach toward imposing tariffs makes it very difficult for business owners like him to adapt to an economic climate that's constantly in flux.

“It’s terrible,” Weaver said. “If you have no idea, and you can’t predict [the policy], it’s very hard for any company, for any business owner. From t-shirts, textiles, to high tech, it is very hard to make a long term business decision when you’re in a whipsaw.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Federal Judge Rules Trump Guard Deployment Was 'Illegal,' Enraging MAGA

On Thursday night, a federal judge issued a ruling that struck down President Donald Trump's deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles, California. The decision enraged many of Trump's most vocal supporters.

In a 36-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer (a Clinton appointee who is the brother of former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer) observed that Trump did not follow the "congressionally mandated procedure for his actions." And he found the president in violation of the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which delegates certain rights to states.

"His actions were illegal," Breyer wrote. "He must therefore return control of the California National Guard to the Governor of the State of California forthwith."

Breyer's ruling was heavily criticized by MAGA influencers on social media. Even though the White House is appealing the decision to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, pro-Trump attorney Mike Davis called on the Trump administration to directly defy Breyer.

"This is another one of those orders by Democrat activist judges that is so lawless and dangerous to our national security that the President of the United States, as commander-in-chief, has the constitutional duty to ignore it," Davis tweeted.

Popular MAGA social media personality Catturd dismissed Breyer as a "California leftist judge," and insisted that the president was still in control of the California National Guard. Attorney Todd Aldinger suggested that the far right instigate a coup against blue state governments using MAGA-aligned county sheriffs. Far-right activist Chaya Raichik, who runs the LibsofTikTok account also mentioned the ruling.

"A JUDGE BLOCKED TRUMP FROM SENDING THE NATIONAL GUARD TO L.A. — TOTAL JUDICIAL OVERREACH," Newsmax columnist Gregory Lyakhov tweeted. "EVERY PRESIDENT SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO STOP RIOTS AND SAVE CITIES."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

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