The White House is scrambling to change the minds of congressional Republican lawmakers who are turning against the proposed $1 billion funding in the GOP reconciliation package to construct "security" elements of President Donald Trump's ballroom project, Politico reported on Tuesday.

"Secret Service Director Sean Curran lobbied Senate Republicans for the funding Tuesday, explaining that only a subset of the funding would potentially be used on the ballroom, but met a skeptical reception nonetheless," said the report. "Curran and other White House officials are expected to continue making the case in the coming days, saying the money is needed to secure the ballroom project and other venues frequented by the president."

Meanwhile, noted congressional reporter Meredith Lee Hill on X, "Trump officials are planning to make an aggressive push for the $ in closed-door meetings with Rs tonight and through the week — with some Rs saying the WH seems determined to secure it."

However, many key Republicans are putting their foot down against the idea.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), a vulnerable battleground-district lawmaker, bluntly told one reporter, “Not happening here,” and said he does not support any federal funding going to the ballroom.

Trump has long promised the ballroom project, which has already seen the East Wing of the White House torn down, would not use any taxpayer money and would rely solely on corporate donations.

After Trump went on a late-night Truth Social frenzy, a former GOP insider couldn't help but compare it to the 2004 movie "Downfall."

George Conway, the former husband of right-wing commentator Kellyanne Conway, told political journalist Molly Jong-Fast on a Tuesday episode of her podcast that the meltdown resembled the movie about Adolf Hitler's last 10 days alive in a bunker.

"This is what happens when a narcissistic sociopath is cornered," Conway said. "They become more desperate, more delusional, and more dangerous."

Trump posted more than 50 times on Truth Social late at night on Monday. The posts railed against Obama and Biden, pushed false claims about the 2020 election, touted his renovations of the Reflecting Pool, and imagined himself on the $100 bill.

For Conway, it reminded him of the historical drama "Downfall" because of its scenes where Hitler is going on loud German tirades and pitching ideas to win the war as bombs drop on his bunker.

"That's where Donald Trump is," Conway continued. "He's only going to get worse, not better. And the most important thing to remember for our current circumstance is that we cannot survive 32 months more of what we've seen over the last sixteen."

Republicans are probing whether OpenAI founder Sam Altman may have violated conflict-of-interest laws through some of his personal investments, while turning a blind eye to the Trump family's investments, according to a new report.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that the House of Representatives Oversight Committee sent Altman a letter on Friday alerting him that they are probing whether funds donated to OpenAI's charitable arm were "diverted for unintended uses." They are also looking at whether Altman's deals with companies like Helion, a nuclear fusion startup, are boosting OpenAI's value.

Several Republican state attorneys general also urged SEC Chairman Paul Atkins to investigate whether Altman's "self-dealing" has artificially inflated OpenAI's value ahead of its anticipated IPO, the report added.

Elon Musk, the former leader of the Department of Government Efficiency, has made similar claims about Altman's investments during court hearings involving a lawsuit between the two men over the last couple of weeks.

Altman has been supportive of Republican efforts to write industry-friendly AI regulations, WSJ reported. He also donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund, the New York Times reported in 2024.

“Altman’s troubling conduct thus far pales in comparison to the harm that would result if he were permitted to continue this pattern after OpenAI goes public,” reads a copy of the letter Republican attorneys general sent to the SEC.

The new probe raises questions about which conflicts of interest Republicans find worthy of investigating. For instance, Republicans have refused to look into a $500 million investment in the Trump family crypto venture by officials in the United Arab Emirates, and have not investigated any potential self-dealing when Qatari officials gave Trump a $400 million airplane for his presidential library.

The Trump children have also been involved in some dubious dealings that Republicans have not investigated. Last year, Trump Jr. and Eric Trump invested in a Kazakh mining company that was awarded a massive loan by the U.S. government. They have also struck multiple real estate deals in foreign countries during Trump's second term in office.

Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers is facing scrutiny over his campaign's ties to a church where three leaders have been convicted of child sex crimes.

Rogers is vying for the Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Gary Peters. The Democratic race is a three-way contest between Rep. Haley Stevens, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, and former Detroit health director Abdul El-Sayed.

According to the Midland Daily News, "Nearly three weeks after a faith coalition leader with ties to Mark Barclay’s Living Word Church resigned from Mike Rogers’ U.S. Senate campaign, a second coalition leader with ties to the organization appears to still be on the campaign. The Rogers campaign has received criticism for not speaking publicly about the volunteer coalition leaders’ ties to the Midland County church, where three leaders over the past two years were convicted of sex crimes involving children."

The first such leader, Tim Cross, resigned from the campaign in a lengthy statement that went out of its way not to mention the scandal at Living Word.

"The resignation came after an open letter from two former Living Word Church members published in the Midland Daily News called for the Rogers campaign to cut ties with Cross and coalition member Brian Ford, pastor of Living Word Church of Ludington," said the report. "The letter mentioned former Living Word youth leader James Randolph, who was sentenced in March to 25-40 years in prison for sexually abusing a child and had a prior assault conviction from 1984 before coming to the church."

The letter writers, Dana and Dan Stahl, slammed Rogers specifically, saying, “Mike Rogers is still silent and Michigan needs to hear from him directly. He has refused to acknowledge these concerns for over a month, and Brian Ford, who supported James Randolph during his trial, kept him on his own board of directors and is still on Rogers’ campaign leadership team.”

The Rogers campaign has pushed back on the criticism, saying that Rogers "spent his career busting human traffickers and protecting victims" as a former FBI agent.

Rogers has faced a number of other controversies, including allegations that he secretly lives in Florida while running his campaign to represent Michigan.

The top-ranking Democrat in the House Judiciary Committee published a letter on Tuesday accusing Trump's Department of Justice of forcing the FBI to pay a "merry band of looters" and disgraced agents, including white nationalist allies and a Jan. 6 participant.

"It has come to our attention that you have used your office to improperly shower government cash on Donald Trump's political operatives and sycophants," Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) wrote in a letter to Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche.

According to Raskin's seven-page letter, Blanche oversaw a DOJ office that ordered the FBI to "pay millions of dollars" to nearly a dozen "disgraced" agents accused of "criminal activity" and "major breaches of national security."

One such agent had their clearance suspended and then revoked because of "his presence within the restricted area of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021," referring to the violent riots that infamous day.

"The agent provided false and misleading information to investigators," Raskin wrote. "Despite this damning evidence, DOJ Office of the Deputy Attorney General agreed to make a lump sum payment of $63,500 to him and backpay amounting to hundreds of thousands of additional dollars."

Special agent Steven Friend was similarly reinstated despite his illegally recording FBI conversations, downloading classified FBI documents, and participating in "unsanctioned media interviews with Russian state media outlets," Raskin wrote.

The DOJ Office of the Deputy Attorney General again ordered the FBI to pay Friend more than $61,000 and "give him hundreds of thousands of dollars in back pay."

The same DOJ office directed the FBI to reinstate an FBI agent who refused to investigate "a violent white nationalist group, Patriot Front," and procured prostitutes while on assignment.

Raskin pointed out in his letter that the DOJ official negotiating the payments to these disgraced agents is Vance Day, who is known for "hanging up a picture of Adolf Hitler in his chambers" and "refusing to marry same-sex couples as an Oregon state court judge."

He added that the senior-most current staffers for Senator Grassley "explicitly instructed DOJ to issue these payments." Raskin called Grassley and the DOJ Office of the Deputy Attorney General a "merry band of looters."

In a Tuesday article, Politico reached out to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and his office framed the payments as whistleblower settlements.

"This seven-page screed is a disgusting and defamatory attempt to smear legitimate whistleblowers while protecting their Biden administration retaliators," Grassley's spokesperson Clare Slattery told Politico. "Senator Grassley stands by his efforts to defend and protect all whistleblowers."

President Donald Trump's administration released its 2026 U.S. Counterterrorism Strategy on Tuesday, pledging to target what it characterized as "violent secular political groups."

The document states the administration will "prioritize the rapid identification and neutralization of violent secular political groups whose ideology is anti-American, radically pro-transgender, and anarchist."

Trump wrote that, as part of his commitment to "defending America from all enemies, foreign and domestic," the administration is "once again working to crush the threat of terrorism."

The strategy outlines plans to "use all the tools constitutionally available to us to map them at home, identify their membership, map their ties to international organizations like Antifa, and use law enforcement tools to cripple them operationally before they can maim or kill the innocent."

The approach positions secular and transgender-rights groups alongside cartels and Islamist terror organizations as counterterrorism priorities.

Watch the video below.

A border town congresswoman detailed the conditions inside one of the facilities used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain immigrants before deportation.

"Once you see it, you can't unsee it," Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) told former GOP operative Steve Schmidt on his podcast on Tuesday. Grijalva was talking to Schmidt about the conditions inside several ICE detention facilities in Arizona.

She said the Arizona Removal Operations Coordination Center in Mesa, Arizona, had "completely scary conditions because so many people were shoved into one space," and noted that for the detainees there, it's "the last stop before people are deported."

She described the facility as "overcrowded." One area had a maximum occupancy of 21, Grijalva said, but she counted 47 detainees "packed in like sardines with no airflow, sweating, no real food."

Grijalva said that she was there because she heard "there was a hunger strike" in the facility.

"I could very easily see why," Grijalva said. "I asked everyone to just have a seat. There's no way that they could sit and not sit on top of someone else."

She repeated that the Mesa facility is "very scary" and it's "the only location in the nation where families can be housed together," she added.

"Moms and their children or dads and their sons, they can be housed together at that facility," Grijalva said. "That one is heartbreaking because that was the first time I could really have conversations with multiple families."

According to Grijalva, the staff inside were "hostile," and she was worried that among the staff, "there was one person that spoke Spanish."

Ever since Markwayne Mullin took over the Department of Homeland Security, the staff inside ICE facilities "are reading from a script. They don't deviate. They don't answer a lot of questions," Grijalva said.

DHS has previously denied lawmakers' characterizations of conditions at the facility, calling claims of overcrowding 'FALSE.'"

Political analysts and observers were wide-eyed after President Donald Trump came unglued over the media coverage of the war in Iran on Tuesday.

Trump posted on Truth Social that media outlets that report Iran is doing well in the war are committing "virtual treason." He's made similar statements in the past, and the president's new post came at a time when negotiations between the U.S. and Iran seem to be at an impasse.

"When the Fake News says that the Iranian enemy is doing well, Militarily, against us, it's virtual TREASON in that it is such a false, and even preposterous, statement," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "They are aiding and abetting the enemy! All it does is give Iran false hope when none should exist. These are American cowards that are rooting against our Country."

"Only Losers, Ingrates, and Fools are able to make a case against America!" he added.

Political analysts and observers reacted to Trump's post on social media.

"The guy who hid classified documents in a bathroom probably shouldn't lecture anyone about aiding enemies," liberal news commentator Alex Cole posted on X.

"Sounds like the strait is gonna open any minute now," journalist Rich Burrows posted on Bluesky.

"Iran is, objectively, doing well in the war, considering that the US has a much more powerful military and bigger economy," Nicholas Grossman, an international relations professor at the University of Illinois, posted on Bluesky. "That's true no matter what media says. Bullying them into lying won't fix it."

"Today went very well ... again," journalist Max Uechtritz posted on X.

"Consistent with Trump's general theory that it is treason to criticize him and that any such speech should be legally suppressed," David Rothkopf, a political columnist for The Daily Beast, posted on Bluesky.

Rep. Norma Torres (D-CA) gave a Trump official a piece of her mind on Tuesday, delivering a direct rebuttal to a Trump administration official who she argued was dodging her questions.

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner was testifying about his department's 2027 budget request before a House Appropriations subcommittee when Torres started to press him about funding for Californians whose lives and homes were impacted — and many destroyed — during the fires in January 2025 in Southern California.

"It is a disaster, and yes, they deserve the help. When is the administration going to submit a disaster package for California?" Torres asked.

Turner said that he visited Altadena and the Palisades, that he spoke with families and community members, who are interested in rebuilding.

"Yes, but when is the administration going to submit that request?" Torres said.

Turner tried to push back on Torres' question.

"If you're not able to answer that question today," she said.

Turner interjected but did not speak directly to Torres' inquiry.

"Part of the problem, from what I understand and talking to the locals, is with local leadership and the stewardship of those dollars prior," Turner said.

But Torres wasn't having it.

"I would like to have an opportunity to discuss with you and your staff at length — since you're not able to give me an answer here today — there shouldn't be any mention of any supplemental, like the illegal Iran war, without giving California what it needs," she said. "California pays $275 billion more in federal taxes than it receives in federal funding. Every single program, every agency in this government is subsidized by hardworking Californians that have been injured [by] no fault of their own and they deserve a government that is responsive to their needs."

Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem no longer lives at the waterfront Coast Guard home that once housed a four-star admiral who was fired by President Donald Trump and evicted from her home with only three hours to vacate before Noem got to live in the house instead.

Noem left her digs after Trump fired her from DHS in March and named her Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, a Western Hemisphere security initiative — but it took her more than two months to make the move, MS NOW producer Steve Benen reported on Tuesday.

Noem was among several Trump cabinet members, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who have taken over residences normally used for high-ranking military officers, Benen noted. Her move into the Coast Guard home displaced Adm. Linda Fagan, the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard and the first woman to lead a branch of the U.S. military — a fact that apparently "meant very little to the Republican White House", Benen said.

"Making matters worse, The Wall Street Journal reported a few weeks ago that Noem remained in the waterfront Coast Guard home for a month after her ouster from the Department of Homeland Security," Benen wrote.

"It took a while, but 'The Rachel Maddow Show' confirmed that Noem finally has exited Coast Guard housing, clearing the way for the current Coast Guard commandant, Adm. Kevin Lunday, to move in," Benen added.

Whether Noem has moved into other government housing remains an open question.

The highly controversial tent detention facility for immigrants in Florida, known as "Alligator Alcatraz," will shut down, according to The New York Times, though the Department of Homeland Security has publicly denied seeking immediate closure of the site.

This comes after the state-run facility, which has been plagued with problems ranging from insect infestations to flooding risk, was found to be in severe financial difficulties, with DHS finding it too expensive to keep funding.

"Vendors were told that detainees would be moved from the facility by the start of June and that the center would be broken down over the following weeks, the three people said. The three people and the federal official all requested anonymity to discuss the closure, which has not yet been made public," said the report. "It is unclear where the detainees would go; the federal government runs many other detention centers, including in Florida. The Everglades center, which is run by the state, held about 1,400 detainees as of last month, according to ICE data."

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has boasted that the facility, which reportedly costs $1 million a day to operate, takes the relief off the Trump administration and houses the "worst of the worst." However, reporting has shown that detainees have included DACA recipients, people with no criminal record, and individuals sent there after minor traffic stops. A Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times analysis found that over 250 detainees were being held solely on immigration violations with no criminal convictions or pending charges in the U.S.

The financial problems became clear in February, when federal officials put heavy restrictions on a $608 million disaster relief grant that DeSantis had been banking on to keep the operation afloat.

"When asked about the center’s future on Monday, Mr. DeSantis did not suggest that a decision was imminent. Speaking to reporters in Fort Myers, Fla., he said that federal officials had not told him they wanted it shut down. But he added that if the federal government stopped sending detainees to the center, the state would not keep it open," said the report. "Mr. DeSantis suggested that a second state-run detention center, west of Jacksonville, would remain open even if the Everglades center were to close, and cautioned fellow Republicans not to abandon their aggressive position on immigration enforcement ahead of November’s midterm elections."

“I think it would be a big problem politically to walk away from the deportation mission,” DeSantis warned fellow Republicans.

An Epstein survivor identified as "Roza" testified before the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday, condemning the Justice Department (DOJ) for exposing her identity in the released Epstein-related files, failing to protect her anonymity under the name "Jane Doe."

Roza said her name appeared “over 500 times,” while powerful figures received redactions, leaving her unable to live without fear.

She recounted meeting French model scout Jean-Luc Brunel at age 18 in 2008, who recruited her as a model and facilitated her U.S. immigration.

Brunel's modeling agency, MC2 Model Management, was financed by Epstein, according to The Daily Beast.

Roza stated that the sexual abuse began when Epstein was serving an 18-month sentence for a child abuse conviction, despite the FBI identifying at least 40 potential minor victims. She characterized the DOJ's failure as deliberate, saying, "Releasing my name while redacting the names of other powerful figures is not a mistake, it's a choice."

Representative Robert García (D-CA) described her testimony as a "horrific example" of DOJ-inflicted survivor re-traumatization.

Watch the video below.

Abdul El-Sayed, one of the Democratic candidates for Senate in Michigan, is facing accusations of misleading voters by referring to himself as a "physician" without meaningful experience actually practicing medicine with real patients, Politico reported on Tuesday.

"There’s no doubt that El-Sayed has top-notch medical credentials," noted the report. "He attended the University of Michigan Medical School and ended up receiving his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He has a doctorate in public health from Oxford University and worked as an assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia for a year before moving to Detroit to be executive director and health officer of the Detroit Health Department."

All of that said, the report continued, El-Sayed has made statements on the campaign trail suggesting he was a licensed physician who treated patients, which doesn't appear to be the case.

"This April, he gave an interview to a local TV journalist where he talked up his credentials as a physician multiple times. In March, he told a group of Teamsters nurses that he had 'been in enough codes to watch who really does the work' and said that same month on a podcast that 'I’ve been a doctor my whole career,'" said the report. "But according to a review of Michigan and New York state medical records, he’s never been granted a medical license in those states."

The extent of El-Sayed’s time actually practicing medicine with real patients, according to the report, "appears to be a short clinical rotation called a sub-internship at a small hospital in Manhattan for four weeks at the end of medical school, he told a podcast in 2022, where he said his 'job was to be the, like, worst doctor on the team' and he was 'cosplaying a doctor.'"

El-Sayed's campaign has strenuously objected to the Politico article, with his spokesperson saying, “He has earned the right to be called ‘doctor’ twice over,” but not answering questions about El-Sayed's use of the word "physician" to describe himself.

This comes amid a crowded primary battle to replace outgoing Democratic Sen. Gary Peters; El-Sayed's main Democratic opponents are Rep. Haley Stevens and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow.

In a blow to President Donald Trump, South Carolina Republicans have voted down a procedural measure that would unlock the ability to redraw their congressional maps to delete their sole Democratic-leaning, majority-Black congressional district — but it may not be the end of the issue.

According to Politico, "Lawmakers on Tuesday failed to reach the two-thirds majority needed to approve a measure that would have allowed them to take up a vote on redistricting even after the legislative session ends later this week. Five Republicans joined all Democrats in voting against the proposal."

This comes after South Carolina's state Senate Republican Leader, Shane Massey, argued passionately against the plan, warning that it could backfire.

“I think — at best — you’re gonna get 6-1 and you may even go 5-2," Massey said, arguing in a strongly Democratic election year that two of the Republican-leaning districts on a gerrymandered map could elect Democrats anyway. "I don’t wanna go 5-2. I don’t want Hakeem Jeffries as the Speaker of the House.”

South Carolina is one of a number of Southern states considering moves to get rid of majority-minority districts protected under the Voting Rights Act, after the Supreme Court made it significantly harder to challenge maps that do this.

The Democratic district in question is currently represented by Rep. James Clyburn, one of the most powerful leaders in the House Democratic caucus and a figure widely considered to be a kingmaker in presidential primaries.

The failed vote doesn't necessarily mean the issue is over; Gov. Henry McMaster could call a special session to redraw the map, which would require only a simple majority, but so far he has resisted calls to do so.

President Donald Trump's call for suspending the gas tax in response to fuel price inflation driven by the war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has pitted a number of prominent Republicans against each other — and one place where it's all unfolding is in Texas, one of the largest producers of oil in the country and a place where consumers are used to dirt-cheap prices at the pump.

For one thing, conflict is brewing between Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and lame-duck state Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, who was ousted from re-nomination in his primary earlier this year. Miller reacted to the news of Trump advocating a suspension of the federal gas tax by putting out a statement calling on Abbott to suspend the state one.

“Several weeks ago, I called on both Texas Governor Abbott and President Trump to temporarily suspend both the state and federal motor fuels tax in order to provide relief to hardworking families who are struggling due to this brief period of higher than usual gasoline prices," said Miller, who has faced public corruption scandals throughout his time in office. "Governors in Indiana, Georgia, and Utah have already stepped up to provide relief for their citizens, and I once again renew my call for Governor Abbott to follow the lead of President Trump and act decisively for Texas families."

Abbott, however, punched back with a statement of his own.

"There's a reason Sid Miller lost his election, it's because he doesn't shoot straight with Texans," said Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott's press secretary. "Any suggestion that the Texas governor is authorized by law to suspend a gas tax is entirely uninformed or purposefully misleading. If the Texas governor could suspend taxes, he would have suspended the property tax years ago."

This comes after Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico put Sen. John Cornyn in a massively awkward spot by endorsing a gas tax holiday ahead of Trump doing the same.

GOP senators are throwing cold water on President Donald Trump's latest plan to reduce gas prices, according to a new report.

Trump has proposed suspending the federal gas tax to help lower prices at the pump for American consumers. The plan is strikingly similar to the one former President Joe Biden proposed in 2022, which GOP senators fiercely rejected, and Congress needs to approve it before the tax is officially suspended.

But a pair of GOP senators recently told Joe Perticone of The Bulwark that they can't support Trump's plan.

“We don’t have a demand problem, we [have] a supply problem, and I think the president can take a lap on that one by saying what he has done to increase discovery, and getting as much energy out of the ground as he can,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) told Perticone.

Energy prices have risen sharply across the U.S. since Trump's war with Iran began in late February. According to AAA data, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is $4.50 — the highest level since 2022 and roughly $1.40 higher than a year ago.

While suspending the gas tax could create temporary relief for consumers, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) expressed concerns about how the move would impact the federal debt, which recently surpassed 100% of U.S. GDP.

“I would not [support a gas-tax holiday] right now,” Lankford told The Bulwark. “We obviously have to watch the debt and deficit as well as a country. Those are also things we got to be able to take care of.”

Former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA) tore into FBI Director Kash Patel's testimony to the Senate on MS NOW as it unfolded on Tuesday afternoon.

"It is really difficult watching these hearings because it feels like the lawmakers are living in two separate realities," said anchor Katy Tur. "There's the one where Kash Patel is a man facing all of these very serious allegations about his competence. There's the one where we are witnessing politically-motivated investigations into Donald Trump's perceived enemies. And there's the one on the other side where the FBI has never been doing a better job, never been more effective, and is cleaning up the political mess that past administrations have made. It's really confounding."

Riggleman, who previously advised the January 6 Select Committee, agreed — and had a few thoughts of his own.

"The first thing I noticed, as soon as he gets in trouble, he paints himself as a martyr," said Riggleman. "And that's the first thing I notice when somebody is doing this type of this sort of trying to bob and weave, is that as soon as somebody says, hey, you've done this, what did you look at? My placard. It's one of the weakest. Immediately. You know, we're not talking about your placard. Obviously you don't have a good answer for what I just asked you. I don't care about your placard."

"Second thing, past performance is indicative of future performance," he continued. "Kash Patel doesn't tell the truth, Katy. And I think that's the thing that's interesting to me, is that the first thing I'm going to ask, well, you said you were in Italy because China, I mean, Italy had China's CCP lead hacker, you know, in custody. Well, if he's in custody, why are you there? And if it was so important for you to be there, why were you drinking with the U.S. Hockey Team? Because shouldn't you be actually on watch if it was that important? That is a commonsense follow-up question that should be a bit of a face-smasher."

"And the other thing, too, is I'm going to believe Brian Driscoll over Kash Patel any day," said Riggleman. "And so when you're looking at this, it's almost like this sane washing sort of just everybody's all kind and quiet. We have an administration out of control. When he talks about decentralization. And you look at these statistics, where are those actually baseline numbers coming from? What are your sources on that? Every time he says something like, well, I would like for the exhibit, I want to see the sources on what you just said, because right now we're not seeing these exact numbers."

"And so I watch these individuals, I don't know if their staffers aren't preparing them with questions to a law enforcement liaison," he added. "If they don't have an FBI liaison that they can call out immediately, they should be calling everybody there. And as soon as he talks about Iran. Oh, for goodness sake. Right. Oh, you're oh, so you've backed into the fact that there's Iranian sleeper cells. Is that what you're alluding to? Who are they? What are their names? What are the names of the people that weren't fired? If you said they were fired, how many people do you have there now? And don't they have a list of the names of the people that were terminated? That's the first thing they should bring up."

"So, Katy, you've noticed it, you've identified it," Riggleman concluded. "This is actually — the sanewashing ridiculousness is hard for me to, it's really hard for me to watch."

- YouTube youtu.be

The anonymous art group Secret Handshake installed a pair of satirical arcade game cabinets on Monday at the D.C. War Memorial, titled Operation Epic Furious: Strait to Hell, criticizing President Donald Trump's unpopular war with Iran, reports Wired.

The installation was photographed on Tuesday with National Guard members appearing to play the game, according to an X post by MeidasTouch reporter Aaron Parnas.

The arcade game depicts Trump "initiating the war with Iran," "collecting barrels of oil," and "fighting those who oppose his military campaign." Players can help Trump find a "Big Mac" or "order a Diet Coke." The game also satirizes Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., having players "find a vial of measles," and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, with Hegseth telling Trump to "hit me up at the bar," mocking his alleged drinking habits.

Secret Handshake previously created political protest art, including a golden throne toilet and Epstein-Trump statues.

Watch the video below.

A longtime Democratic leader on Tuesday had a serious message for FBI Director Kash Patel as Patel scrambled to respond.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) expressed concerns about Patel's leadership of the FBI during the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing in Washington, D.C. Patel, who was testifying before lawmakers, pushed back against claims of excessive alcohol use and other allegations of misconduct.

"I am deeply concerned about the reports that your leadership has not been serious," Murray said. "We need somebody at this agency who is focused on solving criminal cases, not passing out branded bourbon or jetting around the globe. Your job is to be reachable... If you want to pass out liquor or pop bottles in a locker room, stick to podcasting. Leave law and order to people who really do care about justices and appearances, that is really critical. It's what I am really deeply concerned about and so are many people."

Murray was referencing recent reporting from The Atlantic that Patel has been distributing personalized, FBI-branded bottles of Woodford Reserve bourbon to bureau staff and civilians during official business. The Atlantic also reported that Patel transported cases of the bourbon on a Department of Justice plane during a February trip to the Winter Olympics in Milan, where he was filmed celebrating with the U.S. men's hockey team and reportedly left a bottle behind in the locker room.

Patel attempted to defend his tenure, sharing a paper with apparent stats titled "FBI 2025 & 2026 under Trump administration," outlining his accomplishments since he took the top position.

"If people want to continue the baseless, fraudulent personal attacks at me. That's great. Keep the target on me, but the mission has never been better," Patel said.

Murray responded again.

"I appreciate the work of our FBI agents, but leadership, serious leadership is a concern," she added. "And we are seeing the pictures of passing out branded bourbon and what happened at the Olympics, jetting around the globe, all the rest of it, and that I will say, again, Mr. Chairman, is of deep concern to me."

A New Jersey Republican lawmaker is still absent from work with a mystery illness he has not explained to his constituents or the general public.

According to Politico, "Rep. Tom Kean Jr. will not return to Capitol Hill this week, a staffer in his Washington office told POLITICO when asked Tuesday. The New Jersey Republican has not voted since March 5."

Kean's office has stated that he is dealing with a "personal medical issue" and promised he would soon make a "full recovery" and be back at work last month. However, there is still no sign of his return.

Notably, a report last month indicated that stock trades are still being made on Kean's behalf even in the weeks he is recuperating from his unspecified illness.

Kean's ongoing absence and his refusal to offer further details on why have earned a fresh wave of ridicule and questions alike.

"At some point here, doesn't he have to say what the hell is going on?" asked political commentator Chris Cillizza on X. "The man has not been at work in TWO months. Could any of us get away with that if we didn't tell our boss what was happening?"

Meanwhile, the Democratic House Majority PAC posted an image of his face with the logo "Where in the World is Tom Kean Jr.?", a reference to the "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?" detective mystery video game franchise.

Trump's startling dismissal of Americans' pocketbooks as a consideration in the Iran war sparked disbelief and calls for Democrats to capitalize on the stunning admission.

On Tuesday, a reporter asked Trump, to "what extent are Americans' financial situation motivating you to make a deal" to end the war in Iran? Trump answered, "Not even a little bit. I don't think about Americans' financial situation."

The remark immediately backfired on social media.

"Oh my god," responded the progressive political news outlet Meidas Touch on X.

"Democratic ad makers are bookmarking this," journalist Scott MacFarlane wrote. MacFarlane added that he asked Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) about Trump's comment, and she said that Trump "didn't mean it."

"This should be in every Democratic ad in the midterms for every candidate running for every office," agreed Ron Filipkowski, the editor-in-chief of Meidas Touch.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro wrote that "Gas is over $4.60/gallon in Pennsylvania today. Donald Trump's chaos continues to jack up costs and make life harder for everyone — and he literally doesn't give a d---."

Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) chimed in too, saying, "Trump just admitted what we've known all along: he does not care that Americans can't afford to live."

Political podcast host Tommy Vietor described Trump's comment as "another absolutely horrendous quote that will be shoved down Republicans' throats during the 2026 midterms."

Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA), the House Minority Whip, wrote that "Because of Trump: Gas is more expensive. Groceries are more expensive. Healthcare is more expensive. But he doesn't even think about you."

"If it wasn't the post world war 2 order and our whole d--- democracy at stake you'd really have to laugh," wrote political podcast host Tim Miller.

President Donald Trump named a new acting director for the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday after the president reportedly signed off on a plan to oust FDA Commissioner Marty Makary.

Trump announced the news on his Truth Social platform ahead of his trip to China to meet with President Xi Jinping. Makary is the latest in a string of high-profile Trump administration officials to depart, following the firings of Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, as well as the resignation of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer amid a misconduct investigation.

"I want to thank Dr. Marty Makary for having done a great job at the FDA," Trump wrote. "So much was accomplished under his leadership. He was a hard worker, who was respected by all, and will go on to have an outstanding career in Medicine. Kyle Diamantas, a very talented person, will be put in the Acting position."

Trump's warm public statement stood in contrast to days of reporting that he had signed off on a plan to fire Makary last week. Speaking to reporters before departing for China, Trump offered a less flattering assessment, saying Makary "was having some difficulty" and declining to say whether he had asked the commissioner to resign.

Makary's ouster followed sustained pressure from within the administration and from outside allies. He had resisted approving the sale of flavored e-cigarettes — a move that reportedly prompted Trump to confront him directly — and faced mounting criticism from anti-abortion groups over a stalled safety review of mifepristone, one of two pills used in medication abortions.

Kyle Diamantas, the FDA's Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods, will serve as acting commissioner while the White House identifies a permanent replacement.

A right-wing journalist released footage of White House officials saying, "We have to get rid of Trump," while secretly being recorded.

James O'Keefe, who founded Project Veritas, known for putting out undercover videos that usually attack the left, released footage of White House officials slamming some of the president's actions. He was ousted from Project Veritas and now runs O'Keefe Media Group.

"We have to get rid of Trump," Benjamin Elliston, a senior budget analysis and financial manager for the White House, unknowingly told an undercover reporter, thinking he was on a date with someone he met online. "Seriously, he's a mess. He's f— it up for everybody. Everybody!"

Elliston was particularly upset with Trump's ballroom, saying that the president wants to add a "secret basement for the military." He was worried that the ballroom was "all being funded by private donations. No one knows where the money is coming from."

Elliston's comments come as Republicans in Congress move to allocate $1 billion in taxpayer funds toward the project.

Similarly, Maxim Lott, a special assistant to the president on domestic policy, told an undercover reporter he thought was his date that lower-ranking White House employees make decisions for Trump, assuming what his response will be.

"In theory, everything should sort of come from the president, but it might come from the level below him, where they're like I think I know the president well enough to say what he would say on this," Lott said. "There's no like, 'Well, this will cost $10 million, but save people $20.'"

Lott added that "there's no cost-benefit" analysis in these decisions made for Trump, and said that "the overall tone" inside the White House is "a little bit uncontrolled. It's not gonna fix itself."

Raw Story has not independently reviewed the unedited footage. O'Keefe has a history of releasing selectively edited videos.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said that President Donald Trump had used a false quote to push a baseless claim about former President Barack Obama making money off of his signature health care legislation.

In a Truth Social post on Monday night, Trump shared the claim that Kennedy was "now publicly demanding that Barack Hussein Obama return $120 million that he allegedly earned through ownership related to 'Obamacare.'"

"He allocated money under his own laws using taxpayer-generated prestige," the fake quote said. "There's nothing ethical or legal about this."

On Tuesday, Kennedy told NOTUS that he never made the statement that Trump had attributed to him.

"Somebody told me there was something floating around on the internet about me accusing President Obama of stealing $120 million or something," Kennedy insisted. "I didn't say that. I don't know the basis of it."

During his late-night posting on Truth Social, Trump also shared a debunked claim that "election systems across the U.S. are found to have deleted millions of votes cast for President Trump."

The White House responded by defending the president.

"The American people deserve free and fair elections — without them, we won't have a country. President Trump and his entire team are committed to ensuring a U.S. election can never, ever be rigged again," a statement from White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said.

Yelling broke out between FBI Director Kash Patel and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) during a congressional hearing on Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

Van Hollen was questioning Patel during the Senate Appropriations Committee when the line of questioning grew heated.

"Multiple reports, including reporting by The Atlantic, have alleged excessive episodes of drinking, unexplained absences and behavior that concerned current and former FBI DOJ officials," Van Hollen said.

Van Hollen asked Patel, who has publicly denied the accusations and filed a defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic following the report, if he would testify before Congress about whether the allegations are categorically false.

"Unequivocally, categorically false," Patel responded.

"So there have been no occasions during your tenure when FBI personnel were unable to promptly reach you?" Van Hollen asked.

Patel denied the allegations and said he maintains constant communication with the agency, White House and federal and state law enforcement officials.

"So there have been no occasions when your security detail had difficulty waking or locating you?" Van Hollen pressed.

"Nope, it's a total farce. I don't even know where you get this stuff, but it doesn't make it credible because you say so," Patel said.

"It's been written and documented," Van Hollen said, pushing back on Patel's claims.

Patel and Van Hollen started arguing when the back-and-forth fired up, with Patel snapping at the Democratic lawmaker.

Patel went on offense, lobbing a pair of unverified personal attacks at Van Hollen. He claimed the senator had been "slinging margaritas in El Salvador on the taxpayer dollar" during Van Hollen's trip to meet with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man wrongly deported by the Trump administration. Van Hollen has denied that claim, saying a Salvadoran government official placed the drinks on the table and that neither he nor Abrego Garcia touched them.

Patel also alleged, without evidence, that Van Hollen had run up a $7,000 bar tab at a Washington, D.C. establishment. Raw Story could not independently verify the claim, and no corroborating reporting exists.

"FBI Director Patel, come on," Van Hollen said.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) found herself denying that President Donald Trump meant what he said when he claimed he didn't think about Americans' financial situation.

"When you're negotiating with Iran, Mr. President, to what extent are American financial situations motivating you to make a deal?" the president was asked during a press event on Tuesday.

"Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters when I'm talking about Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon. I don't think about Americans' financial situation. I don't think about anybody," Trump insisted. "I think about one thing. We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That's all. That's the only thing."

Correspondent Pablo Manríquez asked Lummis for a reaction to Trump's statement, and she insisted that the president "didn't mean it," Scott MacFarlane reported.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) fired off serious questions on Tuesday during a congressional hearing with FBI Director Kash Patel, pressing the agency's leader over allegations of heavy alcohol use and reports of Patel purging agents who were linked to Trump investigations.

Van Hollen directly spoke to Patel about the concerns he has and laid out multiple reports that he found troubling during the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing in Washington, D.C.

"Because what we are learning about what's happening at the FBI is anything but normal," Van Hollen said. "Director Patel, as you ask for more taxpayer resources, we cannot look away from the credible, extremely troubling reports about your misconduct at the FBI."

"Director Patel, I don't care one bit about your private life and I don't give a damn about what you do on your own time and your own dime, unless and until it interferes with your public responsibilities," Van Hollen said. "Being the director of the FBI is an awesome responsibility and when your private actions make it impossible for you to perform your public duties, we have a big problem. You cannot perform those public duties if you are incapacitated. And Director Patel, these reports about your conduct, including reports of your being so drunk and hungover that your staff had to force entry into your home, are extremely alarming. If true, they demonstrate a gross dereliction of your duty and a betrayal of public trust. I cannot imagine ever having to worry about former FBI Directors Wray or Mueller spending multiple weekends drinking heavily at the Poodle Room in Las Vegas."

Patel has denied these reports.

"The problem with your leadership is it does not end there," Van Hollen added. "We're also witnessing a litany of other abuses — political firings of trusted career agents whose only fault was following the facts and the law, that includes the firing of agents and staff from a special counterintelligence unit that monitored threats from Iran, weaponizing the FBI to seek political revenge on former FBI Director James Comey and others, using FBI investigative resources to go after journalists who write stories that you don't like."

Trump lost his cool while taking questions from reporters on Tuesday about his war in Iran, especially when he pressed on the impact on ordinary Americans.

Right after Trump stated that "the most important thing by far is that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon," a reporter in a rowdy press gaggle shouted, "What about the pressure on Americans and prices right now?"

"Are you listening to me?" Trump shot back. "Every American understands."

He then cited a poll number that said "85 percent" of Americans "understand that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon," Trump said, "which is surprising."

A few moments earlier, Trump told a separate reporter, "I don't think about Americans' financial situations."

While Trump tried to continue walking, someone began yelling, "Stop the bloodshed!" before being quickly quieted. It's unclear if it was a reporter or a protester.

Elon Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok is significantly trailing competitors like ChatGPT and Claude, according to Wall Street Journal reporting.

Grok downloads fell to approximately 8.3 million in April from over 20 million in January — a 59% decline in three months despite the surge in AI. Only 0.174% of surveyed AI users paid for Grok in the second quarter of 2026, essentially unchanged from 0.173% earlier in the year.

The competitive pressure is evident: Anthropic, Claude's developer, secured all computing capacity at one of Musk's primary data centers in early May.

Tech investor Ben Pouladian compared Grok's market position unfavorably to competitors.

"OpenAI is Coke, Anthropic is Pepsi and Grok is RC Cola," Pouladian told the Journal, "I never really saw people drinking it."

Musk launched Grok in late 2023 with ambitious promises, later personally overseeing design of a "racy" chatbot, allowing suggestive content to boost engagement. However, the strategy failed, with Grok barely growing even within enterprise organizations.

Watch the video below.

A Trump-appointed judge in North Texas is refusing to grant a preliminary injunction to a Texas Tech law student who is being punished for celebrating the assassination of right-wing youth activist Charlie Kirk.

The student, Ellie Mae Fisher, was investigated by Texas Tech, a public university in Lubbock, over celebratory comments she made after Kirk was gunned down at a political event in Utah last September. Fisher, who was working for a legal aid clinic associated with the school, filed a First Amendment lawsuit, in anticipation that the school would reprimand her and refer her to the state bar.

U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr concluded that Fisher did not have recourse to seek a preliminary injunction — at least not now — because Texas Tech has sovereign immunity under the 11th Amendment, which limits the ability to bring lawsuits against states and state-run entities under certain circumstances.

Starr did not rule out the possibility that Fisher's First Amendment rights had been violated, or that there might be a way to seek damages for it, but that the preliminary injunction she sought was invalid.

"The Court must deny the motion," Starr wrote. "As the late Coach Leach found out, Texas Tech has sovereign immunity (called Eleventh Amendment immunity when a state is hauled into federal court). Some laws, like Title IX, waive that immunity for states and agencies. But the First Amendment doesn’t. And while section 1983 might have a role in this case to allow plaintiffs to recover damages for past actions that violated the First Amendment, it does not waive immunity for a defendant like Fisher to get a future injunction to nullify past action."

"Because of this immunity, Fisher has not shown she is clearly entitled to relief the Court lacks the power to order," Starr concluded. "As such, the Court DENIES the motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction."

Republicans have sought to use every power possible to target people who have spoken ill of Kirk in the wake of his death. In another case, the chancellor of Ole Miss was sued by an employee who was fired over Charlie Kirk's posts.