Gregory Bovino, the former leader of President Donald Trump's Customs and Border Protection force, lashed out at a MAGA Trump official on Monday after he received a stinging rebuke.

Earlier in the day, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin was asked about Bovino's recent criticisms of how he's managing the department, amid protests outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in New Jersey. Mullin claimed he didn't know who Bovino was and, even if he did, his comments were "irrelevant."

Bovino was asked about Mullin's comments during an interview on Newsmax.

"He's made reference to me before; he certainly knows me," Bovino said. "If that's what he wants to say, then terrific."

He then launched into one of his rehearsed lines.

"Look, I'm for the American people. I'm for mass deportations. And if that is irrelevant, then I'm guilty," Bovino said.

Bovino's comments came at a time when protests outside of Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey had reached the end of their second week. Protesters have been speaking out against conditions inside the facility, and some Democratic lawmakers have called for the facility to be shut down.

President Donald Trump attacked several of his political foes, whom he called "corrupt and irrelevant," in a raving late-night posting spree on Truth Social.

Trump is routinely up late at night posting images of himself or firing off long-winded attacks against his political enemies. In the past, he's posted an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus Christ healing a sick man in bed, threatened to wipe out the Iranian civilization, and reposted multiple conspiracy theories about how the 2020 general election was allegedly stolen from him, even though his lawyers couldn't prove that point in more than 60 cases.

The president continued that streak on Monday night, posting more than two dozen times on Truth Social. Some of the posts were standard endorsements of MAGA candidates while others seemed to come from a darker place in Trump's mind.

In one post, Trump lashed out at the way the media has covered his war in Iran.

"If Iran surrenders ... the Failing New York Times, The China Street Journal (WSJ!), Corrupt and now Irrelevant CNN, and all other members of the Fake News Media, will headline that Iran had a Masterful and Brilliant Victory over The United States of America, it wasn’t even close. The Dumacrats and Media have totally lost their way. They have gone absolutely CRAZY!!!" Trump wrote.

He also attacked several Republican congressmen who lost their primary races to people who are more closely aligned with Trump.

"In the last two weeks I've taken out many bad Political 'Leaders' and Pundits including Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Lightweight 'Congressman' Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Brad Raffensperger of Georgia, REALLY DUMB Stephen Colbert of CBS, and others," Trump wrote in one post. "My score, for two weeks, is 38-0, with three more limping Late Night Talk Show Hosts, including Low Ratings Bill Maher and his Fake "Laughing Machine," to go. It is my Honor to be working so hard for our Country!"

Trump also attacked New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who successfully prosecuted Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide a hush-money payment he gave to adult actress Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about an affair he had with her before the 2016 general election.

"Alvin Bragg created a new crime just for 'Donald Trump.' He took misdemeanors that didn’t exist, and turned them into felonies that never existed," Trump wrote. "They have a “charge” for Donald Trump that nobody has ever been charged with in the History of Manhattan, and they didn’t charge Hillary Clinton’s lawyer who became the Chief Prosecutor, Mark Pomerantz, and the Judge’s Daughter was the Chief Fundraiser for Kamala Harris and Sleepy Joe Biden. Dirty Cops and Crooked Politicians!"

If all of that wasn't enough, Trump also called for Canada to become the 51st U.S. state in a post where he shared an article about the country falling into a recession.

President Donald Trump's recent Fox News tangent on the spelling of the word "dumb" is being called his Dan Quayle potato moment by former GOP strategist Steve Schmidt, who said it's a sign the president's "slipping" before the country's eyes.

Speaking on his YouTube channel Monday, Schmidt drew the comparison to former Vice President Dan Quayle's infamous 1992 spelling fumble, when Quayle told a student there was an "E" on the end of "potato."

Now, Schmidt argued, Trump has echoed that embarrassment by lecturing Americans on the letter at the end of "dumb."

"Take the B off, because most people don't know that, you know, dumb ends with a B, but most people don't know that," Trump told daughter-in-law Laura Trump during a Fox News interview. "And all I do is I switch the E with a U, and you have a Dumocrat."

Trump explained he came up with the nickname "by watching Hakeem Jeffries because he's a dumb person."

Critics piled on online, with one X user writing that Trump was "legitimately proud of knowing how to spell that word." Another posted: "You can tell he definitely just learned this."

Schmidt argued the bizarre tangent reflects a deeper failure Fox News can't paper over. With Trump's approval cratering and his coalition fracturing, Schmidt said no amount of softball interviews from Laura Trump can mask the reality voters are living.

"Let's just say, the Donald, he's slipping," Schmidt said. "Even all the propaganda in the world can't cover up that fact."

MS NOW's Rachel Maddow kicked off Monday night's broadcast with a devastating round of mockery for President Donald Trump's recent celebrations to himself.

She set the scene by covering an episode she had already reported on in Philadelphia, where the Trump administration tried to take down memorials to enslaved people at the President's House, only for locals to sue and stop him — but then the National Park Service only restored half the memorials, leaving the entire site looking obviously unfinished.

That, said Maddow, is a perfect metaphor for the half-realized festivities Trump is putting on to honor himself and, ostensibly, the country.

"I know you've heard all about Trump kind of botching the celebrations that are planned for the 250th in Washington, right?" said Maddow. "Putting a cage match on the lawn of the White House, sponsored by what multiple state gambling authorities widely considered to be an illegal gambling operation?" This was further botched by a disastrous marketing campaign for Trump's car race in D.C., where he sold white T-shirts that said "One Nation, One Race," that had to later be taken down.

Meanwhile, Maddow continued, "Trump now has called for the cancellation of a concert that he had tried to plan in Washington for the 250th after, again, a melange of celebrities and former celebrities they thought they had persuaded to come perform" ended up dropping out amid backlash. As a result, she said, Trump "has announced that he himself should be the headliner instead. So, okay, that'll be great."

This, she said, is already shaping up to be a rerun of Trump's inaugurations. The first one's musical performances were "poorly organized, poorly attended, and sort of sadly underwhelming when it came to star power. The vibe was like cut-rate wedding DJ and desultory junior varsity marching band." This is why, she said, Trump probably found it "kind of a relief when his second inauguration came around and had to be moved indoors for poor weather."

Many more of these flops abound, said Maddow, from Trump's smaller-than-planned birthday military parade, to the utter flop of the right-wing alternative Super Bowl halftime show where "Kid Rock kind of just lost the thread trying to lip sync and gave up halfway through."

Ultimately, she concluded, all of this can be easily symbolized by what Trump left at the President's House in Philadelphia: "This half there, half not there, half taken down mess thanks to Donald Trump."

- YouTube youtu.be

Kellyanne Conway, a former advisor to President Donald Trump, made a bizarre remark on Monday during a new interview on Fox News.

Conway joined Fox News's Sean Hannity on his eponymous show, where they discussed the contentious Senate race in Maine, where Democratic candidate Graham Platner is seeking to unseat incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). During the interview, Conway demanded that Democrats disown Platner because of his extreme views, something she said they once used to cause a divide between Republicans and a high-profile extremist.

"Remember, every Republican had to disclaim David Duke, no matter if we met him, had a meal with him, or heard anything he said," Conway said. "I want every single Democrat who is running for a U.S. Senate seat this year to step away from [Platner], to tell him to get off the ticket."

Conway's comments came at a time when Platner had faced significant criticism from both Republicans and some Democrats. Recently, the Wall Street Journal reported that Platner's wife, Amy Gertner, told his campaign last year that he had exchanged sexually explicit text messages with multiple women. The Journal separately verified that Platner had an active account on Kik, a private messaging app that child safety advocates have criticized.

Last year, it was revealed that Platner made several incendiary comments on Reddit.

TOPEKA — Former Gov. Jeff Colyer ended a Republican campaign Monday for the party’s 2026 nomination for governor in wake of President Donald Trump’s endorsement of rival Senate President Ty Masterson.

Colyer, who was sworn in as governor in 2018 after the resignation of GOP Gov. Sam Brownback, was attempting to claim the nomination in 2026 after withdrawing from the race for health reasons in 2022 and falling several hundred votes short of winning the nomination in the 2018 primary.

“My service will continue, but I shall not be a candidate for governor in 2026,” Colyer said in a statement. “I want to thank the tens of thousands who share our vision of a bold, new Kansas; the thousands who contributed and volunteered; and our fantastic staff who took us to every corner of the state.”

“This campaign was never about me,” he said. “Like you, I believe that Kansas can be the beating heart of America once again.”

Masterson, who chose Lansing state Sen. Jeff Klemp to be his running mate, said the April 24 endorsement by Trump was based on careful analysis of the Kansas campaign to select a replacement for Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.

“They really did do their due diligence in evaluating the race,” said Masterson, who has served in the Kansas Legislature for 20 years. “He decided to go with a battle-tested conservative leader. That’s really what it came down to. They didn’t want to gamble.”

Masterson said the presidential endorsement two months prior to the Aug. 4 primary meant he had the luxury of choosing a running mate who was the best person to serve as lieutenant governor. Masterson said the goal was to win the August primary and November general election so they could hit the ground running in January 2027.

“I had the luxury of choosing the best man for the job,” Masterson said of Klemp. “I don’t have to have a particular gender or demographic.”

At noon Monday, Secretary of State Scott Schwab, himself a candidate for governor, slammed a ceremonial gavel to mark closure of the window for candidates to file for legislative, state and federal offices in Kansas. Schwab will be on the August ballot with running mate Rep. Ken Rahjes, an Agra Republican.

Businessman Philip Sarnecki talks to reporters June 1, 2026, after filing to run for the Republican nomination for governor alongside running mate Joy Eakins. (Photo by Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

Masterson, Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt of Topeka and Overland Park businessman Philip Sarnecki joined the throng at the secretary of state’s office for last-day filers. When Colyer chose not to file, his campaign for the GOP nomination automatically came to a close.

Schmidt, on a ticket with Neodesha farmer Joe Newland, who recently resigned as president of Kansas Farm Bureau, said the Legislature must come to terms with its habit of overspending. Schmidt said that in eight years as state insurance commissioner she was able to lower the cost of doing business in Kansas by $100 million.

“If I find half that amount of efficiency in state government, which I don’t think will be that hard, we will be fine,” Schmidt said. “But the Legislature cannot continue to present a budget that spends more than we’re taking in.”

Sarnecki selected Joy Eakins, a one-time Republican candidate for governor, said the duo offered voters the opportunity to elect people with professional business experience who weren’t tied to special interests that dominated politics in the Capitol. He said Trump won Kansas in three consecutive elections, but the past two GOP candidates for governor — Kris Kobach in 2018 and Derek Schmidt in 2022 — failed to defeat Kelly.

He said GOP leadership in the Legislature, including Masterson, failed to deliver on promises to provide significant property tax reform.

“We are running because career politicians have run this state into the ground,” Sarnecki said. “For three straight years, the career politicians in Topeka have promised property tax relief and we have not gotten anything for the people of the state of Kansas. It’s a total disaster.”

The surprise GOP gubernatorial candidate was Nick Reinecker, a marijuana activist in Kansas. His lieutenant governor running mate is his wife, Katy.

“If you are looking for a perfect candidate without blemish, move on,” Reinecker said. “There is a hunger in Kansas for authenticity, accountability and compassion — an insatiable appetite for meaning and purpose beyond being slaves to tyrants and bullies, to vice or to bad economics forced upon them by greedy and unprincipled practitioners of politics.”

Others in the seven-candidate Republican field are Charlotte O’Hara, who is running with Michael Smith of Lansing, and Stacy Rogers, who joined forces with Michelle Dombrosky, a member of the Kansas State Board of Education.

Rogers said Kansas voters should set aside assumptions the GOP race was over given the Trump endorsement.

“Some people will look at that moment and think the race is decided. I disagree, because this campaign was never built by political insiders, power brokers or establishment money,” Rogers said. “It was built by hardworking Kansans who believe our state deserves leadership that listens first to the people living here — not just the loudest voices in politics.”

Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com.

Pro-Trump influencers have all suddenly started waging war on Harley-Davidson motorcycles — and it's clearly not an organic movement, Will Sommer wrote for The Bulwark in an analysis published on Monday.

This week, he wrote, "has seen wave after wave of MAGA personalities and meme accounts decide, seemingly out of nowhere, that Harley-Davidson was company non grata." For example, he noted, "MAGA influencer Priya Patel declared the manufacturer 'fundamentally anti-American,' while Hercules actor-turned-tweeter Kevin Sorbo said his friends were abandoning Harley-Davidson en masse." Even Nick Adams, a Trump envoy, boosted the campaign.

There's just one problem, he noted: almost none of the influencers slamming Harley-Davidson are actually naming any sort of corporate decision or messaging they object to. Additionally, "every influencer throwing a grenade at Harley is also simultaneously boosting its competitor," Indian Motorcycle.

For example, said Sommer, Prison Mitch, another far-right influencer who trashed Harley motorcycles as "woke and gay," was quick to simultaneously say “Indian Motorcycle spent years building motorcycles and honoring American heritage.”

The pattern was such an obvious paid influence campaign that even Trump adviser Alex Bruesewitz, who posted — and then deleted — an image of an anti-Harley post, saying, “copy and paste talking points about a random issue. And yes, foreign countries also pay influencers for certain campaigns like this. We need stronger disclosure laws!”

All of this, wrote Sommer, "is extra awkward in part because many conservative politicians enjoy their Harleys," including Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA). It's also ironic because "it’s pitching a company called 'Indian' at a time when the American right has been consumed with hate for people from the country of India" — though some MAGA influencers are even commenting on this, with the Wall Street Mavericks account posting, “I know nothing about them, other than it is not a reference to the country of India.”

President Donald Trump just got a "fast lesson in political gravity" by retreating from his most recent plot to pay his supporters with federal money, according to one analyst.

On Tuesday, reports indicated that the Trump administration is backing down from its plan to create a nearly $1.8 billion so-called "anti-weaponization" fund that would pay people who claimed they were wrongfully prosecuted by the government. The fund received sharp bipartisan criticism after multiple Trump allies and former advisors publicly said they intend to seek compensation from the fund.

Brian Tyler Cohen, a progressive YouTuber, said in a new reaction video that Trump's retreat from the anti-weaponization fund should serve as an important lesson for the president.

"Trump might have thought that he could act with impunity, but he is learning a fast lesson in political gravity, specifically the fact that it still exists," Cohen said.

Throughout Trump's second term, he has acted as if political norms and rules simply don't apply. For instance, Trump directed his former Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to prosecute people such as New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey, and sought to unilaterally impose a tariff regime on America's largest trading partners.

Cohen added that Trump's ability to misguide and mislead his followers illustrates his fatal conceit.

"These people have so much contempt for their own supporters that they will lie to them on a minute-by-minute basis instead of just acknowledging objective reality that their plans are insane, aggressively unpopular, help no one, make us all less safe, and couldn't even garner support in a political party full of Trump's colon dwellers," Cohen said.

President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency cuts are hitting the state of Texas hard, as a long-controlled pest is threatening to resurge and decimate the livestock industry.

The New World screwworm, the larval stage of a parasitic fly known for laying eggs inside livestock animals and letting the maggots chew their way out, could cause massive damage to cattle herds. In the past, the U.S. managed to work together with Mexico to drive back screwworms, but they have been expanding their territory recently.

"Back in the 1950s, the United States led a successful charge against screwworms by buggering up their breeding cycle. But that was back when divisions of the government, like the U.S. Department of Agriculture were well funded and well organized," noted Boing Boing in a piece published last month.

In an urgent public letter, GOP state Rep. Don McLaughlin outlined the danger to the state — and demanded immediate action.

"For more than a year, I have joined Texas ranchers in sounding the alarm while federal regulators have moved at a snail's pace," McLaughlin said in the statement. "Today, the threat is no longer hundreds of miles away. It is at our doorstep. Texas cannot afford to wait until the New World Screwworm crosses the border and begins devastating our livestock and wildlife populations."

Attorney Blake Allen weighed in on the matter: "Screwworms coming back into the U.S. cattle herd/stock is going to potentially devastate the industry and jack up meat prices. Worst part is, this was preventable. Trump & DOGE pushed funding cuts on/destroyed agencies that were directly responsible for fighting this pest."

Despite DOGE's proclaimed mission to identify and eliminate government waste, fraud, and inefficiencies, the cuts by the project do not seem to have been effective in even achieving the core purpose of reducing spending.

One of the Make America Great Again movement's biggest stars shared a blistering warning for President Donald Trump during a new interview on Monday.

Megyn Kelly, who hosts an eponymous radio show on SiriusXM, warned Trump during an interview with Piers Morgan on his YouTube show that he risks sinking the Republican Party's chances in the upcoming 2026 midterm election and the 2028 general election by continuing the disastrous war in Iran. Kelly added that losing the House seems likely, and losing the Senate has become more likely, according to some polling.

"We assume we're going to lose the House on Team GOP, but now more and more political pundits are predicting that the Republicans are going to lose the Senate as well," Kelly said "And the map doesn't get any easier for Republicans two years after these midterms when we go into 2028 with a presidential election and yet another election for House members in some Senate seats. So all the math is bad. We don't have the cards to play."

Trump has claimed that he started the war in Iran to prevent the regime from having a nuclear weapon. He's even gone so far as to claim that he "doesn't care about the midterms" so long as Iran never has a nuclear warhead. That claim has not sat well with Republicans and their voters, who are facing a cost-of-living crisis at home.

Kelly added that Trump might make those problems worse if he doesn't withdraw the military from Iran soon.

"It's already a quagmire. Yes, it's only 13 weeks [old] or whatever it is, but it's already a quagmire because there's no easy solution left even if we just pack up our bags and leave, which is what we should do."

A federal judge in Colorado has put a stop to the Trump administration's plans to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, slamming the move as an effort to exact political revenge on the state.

According to The Colorado Sun, Senior U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson called the administration's plans to transfer NCAR's supercomputing facility to the University of Wyoming “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.”

NCAR is a critical facility for climate research, studying changes to Earth's atmosphere. The Trump administration has long sought to marginalize climate research.

But beyond that ideological issue, Jackson agreed with the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), the plaintiff in the case, "that breaking off parts of NCAR, dismantling projects and potentially firing thousands of employees was intended by Trump and agency officials as direct political revenge."

Colorado has been the subject of Trump's fury multiple times since taking office, including over the imprisonment of Tina Peters, a far-right election conspiracy theorist who tampered with voting equipment to try to prove the 2020 election was stolen. Peters was released on parole this month as part of a highly controversial commutation by outgoing Democratic Gov. Jared Polis.

The state's senators have been fighting tooth and nail to preserve NCAR, even obstructing national spending bills in protest.

President Donald Trump's Justice Department probe into E. Jean Carroll has one unmistakable purpose — and it isn't a successful prosecution, according to a former U.S. attorney quoted in a new Slate analysis.

Writing in Slate, journalist Shirin Ali cited former U.S. attorney for Alabama Joyce Vance, who argued the reported investigation into the 82-year-old writer is a revenge tactic designed "to intimidate the woman who stands to collect an enormous sum from the president once the appeals in these matters are complete."

Carroll won a $5 million sexual abuse verdict against Trump in 2023, followed by an $83 million defamation award. Trump's appeals have stalled at the Supreme Court, which has rescheduled the case 11 times since being fully briefed in late January.

Trump's DOJ opened a criminal investigation tied to legal funding Carroll received from Democratic megadonor Reid Hoffman, according to reports. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois later flatly denied it opened such an investigation, calling any claim to the contrary "categorically false."

The legal premise also appears flimsy.

An appeals court already ruled there was no evidence that Carroll was personally involved in securing Hoffman's funding before her 2022 deposition. Ali called the legal premise "thin gruel," and a former SDNY prosecutor called the potential case a "legal non-starter."

DOJ insiders are reportedly cringing at the move. Former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade told Vox that filing charges to shame someone without supporting evidence is "an abuse of the Justice Department's power."

The Trump administration repeatedly dismissed internal objections from National Park Service officials regarding a proposal to lease nearly 40 acres of Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C., to a private operator.

Internal records reveal Park Service employees raised legal, environmental, and ethical concerns about the plan, which includes the Rock Creek Tennis Center, reported The Washington Post.

Officials explained the proposal violated federal rules protecting public access to parklands, threatened the habitat of the Hays Spring amphipod —a federally protected crustacean— and exceeded boundaries even the expected lessee had requested.

Emails show Park Service officials coordinated with Washington businessman Mark Ein, who owns the DC Open, before formal bidding opened. A senior official warned the lease could be vulnerable to legal challenge and questioned how the agency could determine it would not interfere with park protection or visitor enjoyment.

Despite these warnings, leadership approved the larger footprint.

No lease agreement has been announced months after the administration's March 1 deadline.

Watch the video below.

CNN's Jake Tapper was visibly taken aback by new comments made by election denier and disgraced county clerk Tina Peters after she was released from prison on Monday.

Peters appeared on Steve Bannon's "War Room" podcast after her release, where she claimed that she was sent to jail for exposing a Democratic plot to steal the 2020 election from Donald Trump. Her comments echoed some of the claims she made in court during her case, in which the judge described her as a "charlatan" who was abusing her position of authority to help the Trump campaign in its efforts to overturn the election results.

"Wow!" Tapper said on his show, "The Lead," as he played a short clip of Peters on Bannon's show. "A lot of untruthful statements there."

Peters was sentenced to nine years in prison for her efforts to help the Trump campaign following the 2020 election. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, commuted her sentence last month, claiming that it was too harsh for a first-time offender.

The Democratic Party of Colorado censured Polis for granting Peters clemency.

Peters's comments also outraged several political analysts and observers.

"Fresh out of prison, Tina Peters is spending her first hours back in front of the camera doing what she does best: pushing the same election lies that got her convicted in the first place," Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) posted on X.

"Nice work by Jared Polis," Ron Filipkowski, editor-in-chief of the MeidasTouch Network, posted on X.

"I'm sorry, but @jaredpolis needs to resign. He just handed MAGA their victimhood narrative on a silver platter and poured gasoline on the election-lies dumpster fire. Everyone saw this coming, and he granted Peters clemency anyway," Joshua Reed Eakle, a liberal political communications expert, posted on X.

The conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board delivered a scathing verdict on Donald Trump's handling of Iran, accusing the regime of manipulating the president into rescuing Hezbollah, even as it openly violates ceasefires and fires at American forces.

In an editorial published Monday evening, the editorial board wrote that Iran is "throwing a wrench into negotiations with the U.S., and President Trump spent the rest of the day scrambling to satisfy Iran’s demand." That resulted in a fresh Lebanon ceasefire that handed Hezbollah a reprieve it didn't earn, the editors railed.

"Iran is winning its proxy a refuge," the board wrote, noting that Hezbollah had been firing an average of 125 rockets and 49 drones at Israel each day last week, yet Iran still halted U.S.-Israeli action by threatening to walk away from negotiations.

The editorial accused Iran of simultaneously testing Trump on multiple fronts — downing a U.S. drone over international waters, firing ballistic missiles at U.S. forces in Kuwait, and attacking Gulf states — while Trump consistently chooses de-escalation over confrontation.

"The shamelessness is always striking," the board wrote, pointing out that Iran has repeatedly violated the April 7 ceasefire while Trump continues insisting it still holds.

The board's harsh assessment lands as far-right Israeli officials openly defy Trump on the Lebanon front, creating pressure on both sides of the conflict.

"If he won’t send a different message, it will be difficult to get the regime to comply with a deal, no matter what it promises now," the WSJ board concluded.

House lawmakers have demanded that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton produce documents related to his lawsuit against ActBlue, a critical Democratic Party fundraising platform, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

This lawsuit alleges that ActBlue failed to act sufficiently to prevent illegal donations from foreigners or people who had already hit their campaign contribution limit.

The new letter sent by Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Robert Garcia (D-CA), and Joseph Morelle (D-NY) accuses Paxton of ignoring far more serious consumer complaints brought against WinRed, the platform Republicans launched as their answer to ActBlue — in particular, the platform's practice of pre-checking a box to make donors' contributions recurring without them intending to do so.

"While you have done nothing to investigate dozens of such complaints from Texans about being defrauded by WinRed, the platform used to process campaign contributions to Republican candidates and political committees, your office has opened an investigation into an unrelated entity, ActBlue, which processes donations to Democratic candidates and causes," said the letter, noting that Paxton's office has received at least 27 complaints about WinRed, some of them alleging people had their life savings drained from their bank accounts.

The lawmakers are demanding Paxton, now the GOP's candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas, turn over any documents about the complaints and communications around them, although they cannot compel this by force without Republican votes on the House Oversight Committee.

This comes after a federal judge in Massachusetts, where ActBlue is headquartered, already warned Paxton that the ActBlue lawsuit is unlikely to succeed on the merits.

President Donald Trump just suffered one of the biggest self-inflicted wounds of his second term, according to one legal expert.

On Tuesday, sources inside the Trump administration claimed that the $1.776 billion so-called "anti-weaponization" fund had effectively been killed after Trump met with Republican leaders at the White House. The fund was created as part of a settlement between Trump's Department of Justice and the IRS over the president's leaked tax returns. It sought to pay claims by people who alleged they had been improperly prosecuted by the government, and multiple of Trump's allies had publicly said they would seek payments. Both Republicans and Democrats sharply criticized the idea.

Harry Litman, a former federal prosecutor, argued in a new Substack essay that Trump's retreat on the anti-weaponization fund showed that Trump knew he was "pinned between a rock and a hard place." But it also represents another public defeat for a president whose brand is built on bravado and winning.

"So the parameters of the retreat remain unclear as of this writing. It may be a full capitulation. It may be a tactical pause dressed up as a concession. Either way, as a matter of political reality, it is a humiliation—the administration’s biggest self-inflicted wound of Trump 2.0, now compounded by a very public retreat," Litman wrote.

Litman argued that the fund had become "politically radioactive" after reporters began asking Republicans whether they supported paying people convicted of assaulting police officers during the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.

He also warned that Trump may take some "serious lumps" from the MAGA base as the midterms approach because of the retreat.

"Trump is backing down precisely because the politics of supporting them became untenable—it is they whom Trump is plainly abandoning," Litman wrote. "All of that amounts to a richly deserved comeuppance for Trump’s staggering audacity in trying to make the American people not just pardon but financially reward the most serious assault on American democracy since the Civil War."

President Donald Trump unloaded on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a curse-filled phone call Monday, blasting the Israeli leader over the country's escalating military campaign in Lebanon, according to a bombshell Axios report citing two U.S. officials and a third source briefed on the conversation.

"You're fucking crazy. You'd be in prison if it weren't for me. I'm saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this," Trump told Netanyahu, according to one U.S. official's summary of the remarks.

A second source said Trump was "p---ed" and at one point shouted: "What the f--- are you doing?"

The president's fury was reportedly driven by Netanyahu's escalation, threatening to derail his administration's delicate negotiations with Iran, which include a demand that Israel halt its bombardment of Lebanon. Trump warned Netanyahu that bombing Beirut would further isolate Israel internationally and pointed to his support during Netanyahu's corruption trial, telling the prime minister he'd helped keep him out of jail.

Israel abandoned its plans to strike Hezbollah targets in Beirut, an Israeli official told Axios. Trump later posted on Truth Social that the Iran talks were "continuing, at a rapid pace."

One U.S. official told Axios this was among Trump's worst calls with Netanyahu since returning to office. Another said Trump objected to Israel demolishing entire buildings to take out a single Hezbollah commander and was disturbed by the high civilian death toll.

Country singer Alexis Wilkins, girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel, filed a defamation lawsuit against MS NOW on Friday, claiming the outlet "knowingly and recklessly published lies" about her.

The lawsuit challenges a December story citing anonymous sources alleging Patel directed FBI agents to drive Wilkins's drunk friend home after a Nashville gathering, The New Republic reported. Wilkins's legal team characterized the reporting as "hogwash," asserting she is 27 years old and "does not drink."

They noted that a security detail for Wilkins had not been established at the time of the story, marking the first instance in U.S. history that an FBI director extended such protection to a significant other. Wilkins's attorneys said in the filing that she "very rarely drinks."

The suit accuses MS NOW of advancing its own agenda at Wilkins's expense.

This comes after Patel's accusations of excessive drinking, which he has denied.

Watch the video below.

A spokesperson for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth caught heat from political analysts and observers on Monday after making a wild claim about the department's "transparency" on social media.

"This is the most transparent War Department in history. No amount of spin from the Fake News media will change that," Joel Valdez, the acting press secretary for DoD, posted on his official X account.

"The Pentagon Press Office has been redesignated as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility due to speechwriters from the Office of the Secretary of War sharing the facility," he added. "These speechwriters routinely handle classified material and require SIPRNet access. As a result, journalists will no longer be permitted to enter the office space. There’s nothing controversial about that."

Valdez's comments came at a time when Hegseth has faced considerable scrutiny over his use of encrypted messaging platforms and his handling of classified information. Last year, Hegseth was in a Signal group text that disclosed sensitive military operations to The Atlantic's Editor-in-Chief, Jeffrey Goldberg.

Political analysts and observers roasted the spokesperson online.

"This is all lies. These spineless cowards are absolutely terrified of the free press," Fred Wellman, a Democratic candidate in Missouri, posted on X.

"Last year @SeanParnellASW promised the press the most transparent Pentagon ever," Konstantin Toropin, a Pentagon reporter at the Associated Press, posted on X. "Now, their position is that “there’s nothing controversial” about designating the office with their press officers - officers and civilians that are supposed to work with the press - as classified."

"Fact check: The latter three paragraphs of Joel's statement appear to be true. The bit about transparency, not so much," Dan Lamothe, military affairs reporter at The Washington Post, posted on X.

Former "South Park" writer Toby Morton had a surprise over the weekend for Mr. Wonderful — aka Kevin O'Leary — announcing plans to troll the Canadian businessman.

The MAGA "Shark Tank" star has financially backed the development of a large-scale, 9-gigawatt data center located on a 40,000-acre parcel of land in Utah, which has prompted outrage from locals and leaders in the state.

"Kevin O’Leary is backing a massive AI data center near the Great Salt Lake, powered by natural gas and fast tracked by state officials. Scientists warn it could increase emissions, strain resources, and further impact an ecosystem already in decline," Morton wrote in a post on Instagram.

"Kevin is also aware that I own KevinOLearyTV.com, his social media handle as a domain name. I’ll be using it accordingly," Morton added. "Billboards are on the way."

Morton encouraged people to donate to the billboard campaign via the new website, where he said people can expect updates from Utah residents, public information and environmental concerns, along with "satire, commentary, and excessive pettiness." He explained it will also feature "occasional reminders that this website exists because Kevin forgot to buy his own social media handle as a domain name."

This isn't Morton's first time taking on public figures.

He publicly teased President Donald Trump after purchasing multiple domain names associated with the president's attempted rebrand of the Kennedy Center. In December, Morton launched the TrumpKennedyCenter.org website, which includes several not-so-subtle digs at the president's second administration and his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files — including photos highlighting his ties to the late financier and convicted child sex offender.

Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) has been mystifying Capitol Hill for months with his protracted absence due to an unspecified medical issue. Now he's introducing legislation — even though he hasn't actually returned to work yet.

According to NOTUS, Kean "became the lead sponsor of H.R.9061" on Friday — a bill that would require clear guidance from the federal government to states on whether to cover early screenings for preeclampsia, a life-threatening pregnancy complication, in Medicaid and CHIP.

This comes even though he is still out of work and nobody knows where he is.

Republican lawmakers are growing increasingly concerned, as his absence has now extended past 75 days, and his office has not given any clarification on what his medical condition is or when he will be able to return to work. His aides are simply assuring the public that he will be back to work "soon."

Filing legislation is not the only standard congressional activity Kean is carrying on with, despite not actually showing up to the Capitol. His office is also sending out his newsletter, with no indication that anything is amiss.

Kean represents a New Jersey House district that will likely see a competitive race in November, where Democrats are strategizing how to capitalize on a wave of public anger at President Donald Trump and reclaim the House majority after having lost it in 2022.

Former Brazilian model Amanda Ungaro made explosive claims about first lady Melania Trump over the weekend, tying her to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, according to a new report.

In a since-deleted post on X, Ungaro claimed that Melania Trump was one of Epstein's escorts, and that is how she was introduced to her husband, President Donald Trump, the Daily Beast reported. Ungaro shared a WhatsApp recording on X in which she accused her former partner, Paolo Zampolli, one of Trump's appointees to the Kennedy Center's Board of Trustees, of lying about introducing the Trumps in 1998, the report added.

“Let’s tell the public you never were the one introducing Melania to Trump. It was Jeffrey Epstein, as she was [an] escort of Jeffrey Epstein. That’s how she met Donald Trump,” Ungaro said in the recording, posted around 11 p.m. Sunday.

“And I know, because I was with you [for] 20 years and you always told me it was not you—it was Jeffrey Epstein,” she added.

Ungaro's claims are at odds with statements Melania Trump made during her seemingly impromptu press conference in April about her relationship with Epstein. Melania forcefully denied being introduced to Trump through Epstein or having any involvement in his crimes during the press conference.

“I am not Epstein’s victim," Melania Trump said at the time. "Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump. I met my husband, by chance, at a New York City party in 1998. This initial encounter with my husband is documented in detail in my book, 'Melania.'”

Zampolli told the Daily Beast that Ungaro's claims are a "disgrace" and made him concerned for her mental health.

Ungaro's claims also surfaced at a time when she is embroiled in a custody battle with Zampolli. She accused her former partner of using his influence to have her arrested by immigration agents last year, according to the report.

The American Civil Liberties Union is filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration over conditions at the controversial Camp East Montana migrant facility near El Paso, Texas, alleging that the site is turning into a "civil rights catastrophe."

According to ABC News, civil rights organizations "are accusing Immigration and Customs Enforcement of subjecting immigrant detainees to wide-ranging 'inhumane' conditions and treatment, including physical abuse, sexual harassment, 'abhorrent medical care,' spoiled food, and inappropriate use of force" — all of which comes after a series of suspicious deaths at the facility.

Camp East Montana is a makeshift tent facility that was set up at the Fort Bliss military base. It is the largest migrant detention center in the United States, capable of holding up to 5,000 people.

Per the complaint filed by the ACLU, detainees "are confined to windowless enclosures in tents and suffer egregious physical abuse by guards; abhorrent medical and mental health care, including for people with chronic conditions like cancer and HIV; indiscriminate use of solitary confinement to punish and silence victims of guard abuse; and other flagrant constitutional violations, including exposure to measles, tuberculosis, and other diseases."

A spokesperson for the facility denied all the allegations, saying in a statement, "It is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody."

All of this comes amid reports that "Alligator Alcatraz," another makeshift detention facility created independently from DHS by the state of Florida but once enthusiastically supported by the Trump administration, is shutting down amid ballooning costs that make the project unviable for DHS to assist with.

Financial experts sounded alarms over Elon Musk's SpaceX being fast-tracked into major market indexes like the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100, potentially forcing millions of Americans to unknowingly invest retirement funds in the unprofitable company.

Content creator Zack Nelson warned, "The richest guy on the planet is about to rob your 401K."

A major U.S. union cautioned that the move "defies financial logic," noting SpaceX operates at an aggregate loss and would ordinarily be ineligible for certain indexes.

Investor Ari Paul called it an "impressive coup by Musk," while portfolio manager Ian McMillan characterized index providers as "openly looting the coffers," calling it "100% fraud," on X.

Despite posting a $4.9 billion net loss in 2025, SpaceX is expected to become one of the world's most valuable companies upon going public, with critics suggesting the arrangement benefits Musk's pursuit to become the world's first trillionaire.

Watch the video below.

President Donald Trump's "epic crashout" after most of the performers bowed out of his "Freedom 250 Concert" revealed that the commander-in-chief cannot seem to get his grip on what he desperately wants: cultural relevance, a journalist pointed out on Monday.

In a Substack post, author Paul Waldman described how "his quest to dominate culture the way he dominates politics keeps going badly," and his most recent move backfired. A majority of the artists ended up dropping out and some said they were misled to think it was a nonpartisan event, but "once they realized the event was all about Donald Trump, most of them wanted nothing to do with it."

This was a nightmare for Trump, Waldman explained.

"So Trump’s long-held dream to take over American culture in the same way he took over American politics remains unfulfilled," Waldman wrote. "For all the ways he has affected the country, he is not a tastemaker or an avatar of coolness; when the culture speaks of Trump, it’s mostly to rail at him and reject him."

And his meltdown over the weekend after the party started to fall apart prompted him to cancel it altogether and instead plan a rally — despite Vanilla Ice's enthusiasm to still perform.

"It’s not just that he has terrible taste, though of course he does," Waldman added. "It’s unclear how many people are splashing their own homes in hideous gold-painted appliqués to mimic his Russian-gangster-meets-Saddam-Hussein aesthetic, but there can’t be all that many. Trump’s musical tastes run from show tunes to perfectly adequate pop numbers to one particular ‘70s song about gay men cruising for sex — but the last thing you’d call him is cool."

As Waldman argued, "even if Trump imagines himself bigger than Elvis," he simply isn't.

"Donald Trump may be a showman, but he doesn’t really know how to put on a show — at least one that anyone but his most rabid supporters will want to attend (and even they’re getting tired)," Waldman added.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin had few words Monday for his loudest MAGA critic: "He's irrelevant to me."

Asked at a press conference about retired Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino and "the criticism he's been leveling at the department," Mullin didn't blink. "I never met the guy. He's irrelevant to me. I don't know who he is," the secretary said, then moved on.

The dismissal came as Bovino has been on a very public tear against Mullin and other Trump insiders. The former commander — once the face of the administration's aggressive immigration crackdown in Chicago and Minneapolis — was ousted in January after federal agents under his command fatally shot two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis. He retired in the spring.

Since then, Bovino has pulled no punches. Speaking last weekend at the far-right Remigration Summit in Porto, Portugal, he mocked Mullin's background in his family's plumbing business.

"Mullin's a great guy, great plumber, no doubt about that," Bovino said. "He could probably fix a leaky faucet. But a hundred million illegal aliens is not a leaky faucet."

Bovino also called out White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and top Trump campaign aide Chris LaCivita by name, accusing them of "pushing to dial back" mass deportations and "steering the president toward caving to anarchists."

On the ongoing clashes at the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, Bovino was equally blunt — arguing on X that Mullin was putting agents at risk by withholding tear gas. "I don't know who's holding these guys back, but basic riot control starts with gas," he wrote. "Hesitation isn't compassion — it's dangerous weakness."

Mullin's office told NewsNation that ICE arrested six protesters Wednesday for allegedly assaulting federal officers but did not address Bovino's tear gas allegations directly.

A long-time GOP analyst compared President Donald Trump's dying "anti-weaponization" fund to an iconic scene from the movie "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" during an interview on CNN.

Trump's fund was established as part of a settlement between the Trump Department of Justice and the IRS for a case involving Trump's leaked tax returns. The nearly $1.8 billion fund was designed to pay people who allege that they were wrongfully prosecuted by the federal government, and multiple of Trump's allies have said they plan to file claims seeking restitution.

The fund has received significant pushback from Republicans and Democrats alike. On Monday, Axios reported that the Trump administration plans to drop the fund. The announcement came after a cadre of federal judges called out the settlement and asked a federal judge in the Southern District of Florida to give the settlement another look.

David Urban, the former chief of staff for former Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), told CNN's Kasie Hunt on Monday that the fund is like the scene where Monty Python is hauling dead people out of a town, and one person perks up and says, "But I'm not dead yet."

"It may not be completely dead, but it's pretty dead," Urban said.

His comments came at a time when Trump met with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Monday, and Johnson urged the president to drop his bid to establish the fund, according to reports.

Capital defense lawyer Maria DeLiberato met her client last March.

Tony Carruthers was scheduled to face the death penalty last month for the kidnapping and killing of three people in Memphis.

Upon meeting and evaluating Carruthers' case, DeLiberato noticed the hallmarks of a wrongful conviction, as DeLiberato wrote for The New York Times.

There was no physical evidence that connected Carruthers to the crime, said DeLiberato.

"I was also shocked to learn that Mr. Carruthers was forced to represent himself at trial after several lawyers asked to be removed from his case, claiming that he was too difficult to work with."

Pressed for time, DeLiberato began building her case in defense of Carruthers. They requested that the state of Tennessee test fingerprints and DNA from the crime scene. Yet despite her efforts, she wrote, the state did not cooperate.

Tennessee has a history of failing to protect inmates during their execution. An independent investigation commissioned by Tennessee's Gov. Bill Lee found that between 2018 and 2022, the state consistently neglected its protocol while executing its inmates.

The morning of Carruthers' execution arrived, and DeLiberato assumed the role of a witness.

"My responsibility was to remain present while the state killed my client, and to refuse the comfort of looking away," she wrote.

DeLiberato notes how Tennessee prohibits journalists from witnessing the intravenous line insertion process, which she said is the first major step of the lethal injection protocol.

She started taking notes, carefully adding time stamps. Seven minutes in, execution practitioners were alternating between his left and right arms, failing to find a vein for his IV. DeLiberato described the energy inside the execution chamber as tense.

After 30 minutes, a doctor entered. The team tried inserting the IV in Carruthers' feet and failed; he was in pain.

The doctor then asked if anyone knew how to insert an IV through the jugular vein, an invasive procedure performed by puncturing the neck, chest or groin. DeLiberato quickly objected but was ignored. She wrote that the doctor inside the execution chamber admitted in a deposition he hadn't performed a jugular insertion in over a decade and didn't have the privileges to perform one in any hospital in the country.

"That moment revealed something deeply unsettling about the machinery of executions in America. The states that still execute people insist that executions are controlled, humane and medically precise," she said.

The doctor began by injecting Carruthers with lidocaine, then jabbed into his chest with a scalpel or large needle, according to DeLiberato.

Carruthers was audibly in pain as the doctor continued. All the while, DeLiberato reassured her client that she was doing everything she could to help.

An hour later, the doctor stopped and said he was not able to set a central line, but the execution team continued searching for a vein.

"I could see blood coming out of the puncture wounds. Mr. Carruthers moaned while the executioners moved frantically around him," wrote DeLiberato.

A phone rang inside the chamber and the warden answered.

DeLiberato later learned the execution was postponed by Gov. Bill Lee.

DeLiberato noted Carruthers' appearance; he was pale and trembling. Approximately 90 minutes had passed since the execution began.

Carruthers said about the doctor, "He was hurting me and he knew he was hurting me."

President Donald Trump's administration pulled the plug on his $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" after a federal judge temporarily blocked it over the weekend — but that doesn't mean the rising confrontation it's caused between the White House and Republicans on Capitol Hill is over, Punchbowl News' Jake Sherman told MS NOW's Katy Tur on Monday.

"Maybe you have some information about what Speaker Mike Johnson might have said to the president when he was at the White House a little bit earlier today," Tur asked Sherman, referring to the recent meeting on the status of the reconciliation bill, which Republicans have debated updating with language limiting the fund.

Sherman acknowledged he didn't know exactly what was discussed there about the fund, but that his sources tell him "the administration is going to announce through DOJ that they are going to comply with the court order ... but the administration plans to say they plan to take no further action."

Despite that, he argued, this "is not going to be an immediate salve for Capitol Hill" because Trump could simply decide at a later date to restart it up again when the court order expires. "They're going to want to put language in ... the reconciliation legislation, which funds ICE and CBP, to make sure that the administration can't, at some point, return and do this again."

In other words, he said, Republicans will take a "trust, but verify" attitude and "put teeth into legislation to make sure that the administration doesn't, in a couple of months, say, actually, we've changed our minds. We're going to go back and set up this $1.8 billion fund."

Ultimately, though, he said, this is probably good news for Republicans because the administration's surrender means they can move forward with the broader reconciliation bill.

"This was the only path, Katy, to get this done," he said. "The administration would have been frozen up here for weeks, if not months ... if this weaponization fund was put in place, they would have had to deal with this on every single bill that the House and Senate were looking to pass." As a result, Trump had "no other option" but to throw in the towel on the slush fund.

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