AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

President Donald Trump’s $14 million renovation project at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is not going well. In fact, the efforts to kill off the algae are apparently helping foster a new, even more aggressive algae, according to tests conducted by a reporter for The Atlantic.

Trump’s decision to drain the pool and paint the bottom “American Flag Blue” has been criticized for its cost, plus the no-bid contract for the work. Since the pool was refilled, bright green algae spread throughout the water and the paint has been peeling away. Reporters have seen tourists tearing off pieces of the paint to bring home as souvenirs.

The government has sent out work crews to try and combat the algae through various means, including “hydro-vacuums” and pouring hydrogen peroxide into the water. That appears to have been an inadequate fix, only killing off some of the algae along the outer edges of the Reflecting Pool and possibly even causing or exacerbating the peeling paint.

But the problems caused by the hydrogen peroxide don’t end there, wrote Matt Viser for The Atlantic on Friday.

Viser had observed the Reflecting Pool on several different days recently, watching tourists grab their souvenirs and government workers wading through the water making various attempts to remove the algae, noting that the water was “relatively clear” in some sections, an “oily sludge” in others, and multiple shades of green from the algae in others.

He asked multiple people with the National Parks Service, official spokespeople and the workers on site, about the progress of the algae removal, and could get answers neither about the work nor if any of the algae species present were toxic — a nontrivial matter, since local wildlife, tourists, and locals have been touching the water.

The Atlantic decided to run its own tests on the water. Viser gathered samples from multiple areas of the Reflecting Pool, and brought them to two different scientists for testing.

“Testing reveals that efforts to suppress one algal bloom seem to be fueling another,” wrote Viser, and the “workers battling against nature” in “the country’s most high-profile science experiment” may actually be making things worse.

“After a week of combat,” wrote Viser, “they have essentially killed off one type of algae infesting the pool, only to create the conditions for a new type to take over. And Scenedesmus, a genus of green algae nicknamed ‘Skinny Dead Mouse’ by scientists, is now flourishing,” according to the tests they ran.

The original algae that showed up in the Reflecting Pool “appeared to be a blue-green cyanobacterial bloom,” wrote Viser, and that type can sometimes produce neurotoxins that are dangerous for humans and animals.

One of the scientists who tested the samples was Hans W. Paerl, a professor of marine and environmental sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Paerl examined the samples under a microscope and found “remnants of the previous bloom” of the blue-green algae, “but they were too degraded to identify,” wrote Viser, and he believed this was caused, at least in part, by the hydrogen peroxide.

“The guys dealing with peroxide treatment can pat themselves on the back,” said Paerl. “But it doesn’t really solve the overall problem.”

“What’s happened is they’ve just switched the players. And the green algae are just taking over,” Paerl explained, and this new green algae “is a pretty aggressive grower.”

Greg Boyer, a professor emeritus of biochemistry at the State University of New York, concurred, telling The Atlantic he had “never seen it bloom quite this thick.” Boyer’s testing found similar results of “little to no blue-green algae,” wrote Viser, but that could change over the next few weeks. Currently, we were in “peak season for green algae,” said Boyer, and “pretty early in the season for blue-green algae.”

Both scientists also told Viser that the treatments the NPS was using to attempt to fight the algae, hydrogen peroxide and nanobubble technology, were more effective against the blue-green algae, not the green algae that was currently dominating.

The Reflecting Pool itself was already an ideal environment for algae, Boyer said.

“If I was going to design a facility to grow algae,” Boyer explained, “I would probably design a facility that had a lot of surface area and was very shallow, so you have sunlight down to the bottom. And put a lot of nutrients in it. And that’s pretty much what the Reflecting Pool is. It’s just a perfect facility for growing algae.”

The deep blue paint that Trump had added only made it worse, wrote Viser, because it “raised the water temperature and accelerated the growth.”

“The water will probably remain green for the foreseeable future,” said Paerl.

The post Reflecting Pool Is Now Under Siege by a Different and More ‘Aggressive’ Form of Algae: Report first appeared on Mediaite.

President Donald Trump is now claiming that the problems with the newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool were caused by unidentified vandals.

The president has taken a personal interest in the renovations and frequently raised the topic during press gaggles. Since the job was completed, the pool has been plagued by algae blooms. This week, visitors to the pool began to notice paint peeling away from the bottom. The algae has given the pool a distinct green hue instead of the intended American flag blue. Some tourists have reportedly been ripping off pieces of the paint to take as souvenirs.

Trump addressed the problems on Friday night in a post on Truth Social. He bragged about having “beautified over 45 Monuments and Memorials, 28 Statues, and 22 Fountains in Washington, D.C.”

The president pivoted to the pool, whose problems he blamed on vandalism. For good measure, Trump accused ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl of “trying to rip the rubber off of the surface”:

[W]e’ve had some real problems with Vandalism at the beautiful Reflecting Pool, which sits between The Washington Monument and The Lincoln Memorial. Just like three days ago, they destroyed the grass outside of the Pool, they’ve also done everything possible to hurt the inside surface that was just installed. No different than the chemicals that were used on the National Mall, they used something similar in the Reflecting Pool to try to destroy and demean our beautiful work. Lightweight ABC Reporter, Jonathan Karl, was seen sticking his hand into the Pool, and trying to rip the rubber off of the surface. The algae is 75% gone, and the condition will soon be completely remedied, and the area that was vandalized, fortunately, is just a small area of damage, and will be fixed early next week.

Trump added that police are “actively investigating this situation, and will hopefully have it resolved soon.”

The president’s reference to Karl seems to be an allusion to a video the reporter shot at the Reflecting Pool on Thursday, where he reached into the pool and held a piece of peeling paint to show viewers the problem. At no point did Karl attempt to “rip” anything off, as Trump claimed.

In a subsequent post, Trump posted an image of a person standing near the pool while wearing a shirt that reads, “TEAM ALGAE,” as if to provide support for his claim.

The Reflecting Pool was renovated by Atlantic Industrial Coatings, a Virginia-based company that was awarded a $13.1 billion no-bid contract.

On Thursday, The New York Times reported that the pool’s new water purification system was installed via another no-bid contract, by Greenwater Services, which is owned by J.J. Cafaro Trust, headed by John J. Cafaro. In 2001, Cafaro pleaded guilty to bribing a congressman, whom he later testified against.

The post Trump Claims ‘Vandalism’ Caused Reflecting Pool Debacle, Accuses ABC Reporter of Trying To Make It Worse first appeared on Mediaite.

On Friday, CNN’s KFile team reported that Dan Osborn, the Democratic-backed independent Senate candidate from Nebraska, recalled calling ICE on replacement workers hired after his union went on strike in 2021, despite heavily criticizing the agency throughout his campaign.

KFile’s Andrew Kaczynski joined CNN’s Boris Sanchez on-air, explaining, “Dan Osborn presents himself as a pro-labor populist who is sharply critical of some of [President Donald] Trump’s administration’s harsh immigration enforcement tactics. But, during a major labor strike that he led in 2021, Osborn said his union had turned to federal immigration authorities over allegations involving undocumented replacement workers.”

The uncovered video of Osborn from 2021 was shown next, depicting the candidate telling an interviewer about his union’s strike, “Kellogg’s is bringing in replacement workers. We have it on good authority that they’re replacing us with a good percentage of undocumented workers… We have been in contact with Homeland Security and ICE… I hope they do the right thing and investigate our claims.”

Kaczynski said that at the time, Osborn was the president of a local union for Omaha Kellogg’s cereal plant workers. Kellogg’s did not respond to KFile’s request for comment on the immigration status of the replacement workers in question.

In recent months, Osborn has “criticized the use of masked federal agents and called some of what he’s seeing ‘not humanly decent,'” reported KFile. “His campaign told CNN that he actually never personally contacted ICE or Homeland Security. Instead, the campaign said that he contacted the local sheriff and sought guidance on how those allegations involving undocumented replacement workers should be reported.”

The campaign went on to claim that individuals whom Osborn told about the sheriff’s advice contacted federal authorities on their own.

The campaign added:

There’s a reason we haven’t had real immigration reform in this country: mega-corporations who use Citizens United to fund career politicians in DC are benefiting from our broken immigration system by exploiting undocumented immigrants to create a cheap pool of labor, driving down wages to boost their own profits while undercutting American workers.

As Sanchez pointed out, “this also comes as Osborn is relying heavily on Democratic voters in the Senate race.”

Watch the full clip above via CNN.

The post Democratic-Backed Senate Candidate Reportedly Called ICE on Migrant Workers first appeared on Mediaite.

The algae and peeling paint plaguing President Donald Trump’s $14 million renovation project at the Reflecting Pool have gotten to the point where tourists are stopping by and “tearing off pieces” of the paint to bring home as souvenirs, CNN reported.

Anchor Omar Jimenez introduced the report from correspondent Tom Foreman on Friday’s episode of CNN News Central, commenting that crews were “still trying to remove all that algae from the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool,” but now they were having to deal with “new problems, including parts of the pool’s floor now appear to be peeling off,” showing video of “flaps of blue material” that were “floating in the water.”

Photos and video of the bright green algae, government workers’ attempts to clear it with hydrogen peroxide, and then the paint seeming to peel (which may have been caused or exacerbated by the hydrogen peroxide) have been going viral on social media this week.

It was not clear if it was sealant or paint, Jimenez said, pointing out the “flaps of blue material” floating in the water and asking Foreman for an update on how the crew’s work was progressing to tackle the algae and paint issues.

“Tom, what are you seeing?” asked Jimenez. “Are crews out making any progress? I feel like you got your sleeves rolled up. Have you been putting your hands in there too?”

Foreman said he had been “very careful here not to pull at this because we don’t want to, you know, make anything worse,” and pointed out a loose flap of the paint or sealant in the water.

“There have been tourists coming along, tearing off pieces to take as souvenirs,” said Foreman. “Now, did they cause this problem? I don’t know, maybe. Did they exacerbate it? Maybe. And we don’t have proof, exactly that that is the sealant we’re talking about. But it sure looks like it.”

As far as the algae cleanup was going, Foreman said the crews “are working very hard and it is very slow,” and they were now “pumping oxygen into the water in a form of ozone to try to break up the chemical process that forms these algae blooms, very commonly this time of year in Washington, D.C., and they’re using these sort of water vacuums out here — hydro vacuums to suck up a lot of the green algae.”

“We don’t know — it could be forming again behind them,” he continued, “because it’s basically microscopic, in spore form.”

“What we do know is that all the tourists who are coming by are seeing a lot of it,” he said, cuing up video clips of tourists reacting to the “green, green slime,” saying it looked “bad,” and they “feel for the ducks.”

Foreman also showed the output hose pouring into a drain that was “clearly green,” despite federal officials claiming the water was “absolutely clear” and “perfect.”

“It very clearly is not,” said Foreman. “It takes no walking around at all here to see all the debris in the water, the continued presence of algae.”

“Can they get it under control?” said Foreman. “Maybe they can, but currently they do not have it under control. And whether they can get it done by July 4th, we’ll see.”

Watch the clip above via CNN.

The post Art of the Peel: Tourists Are ‘Tearing Off Pieces’ of the Reflecting Pool’s Peeling Paint to ‘Take as Souvenirs’ first appeared on Mediaite.

AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura

A man whose life sentence was commuted by then-South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has been charged in connection with the death of a 14-year-old girl whose disappearance prompted a days-long search earlier this year, per statements from the Sioux Falls police reported by ABC News on Friday.

According to an indictment unsealed this week, 51-year-old Mark Milk faces federal charges alleging he transported a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, supplied cocaine that resulted in the girl’s death, and later worked with another man to conceal evidence.

The victim, McKenna Wendel, was reported missing in March before authorities discovered her body in a rural area near Brookings, South Dakota. Prosecutors allege the teenager died from a drug overdose on or about March 14.

A second defendant, 38-year-old Jon Rogness of Brookings, is accused of helping Milk evade law enforcement after McKenna’s death. Both men are currently in state custody, according to authorities, with Milk’s arrest occurring on March 17 for drunk driving and aggravated eluding charges.

Federal and local investigators described the case in stark terms as they announced the charges during a Thursday press briefing.

“This is a horrific case,” FBI Omaha Field Office Special Agent in Charge Gene Kowel said. “There are no cases that we investigate that are more heart-wrenching, more tragic than ones that involve children or the death of a child.”

The charges have also renewed attention on Milk’s criminal history. In 1994, he received a life sentence for manslaughter after fatally stabbing a man during a fight. South Dakota’s Board of Pardons and Paroles later recommended clemency, and Noem, who would later serve as Homeland Security Secretary under President Donald Trump before her firing, commuted the sentence in 2023 to 240 years, making him eligible for parole.

According to ABC News, the victim was listed as a guest at Milk’s June 2024 parole hearing, with Sioux Falls police having previously identified Milk as a family member of the teen.

The post Suspect in 14-Year-Old Girl’s Death Had Life Sentence Commuted by Kristi Noem first appeared on Mediaite.

AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

President Donald Trump essentially negated the endorsement he previously gave South Carolina Lt. Governor Pamela Evette (R) by endorsing her and her opponent.

Last month, Trump endorsed Evette in the crowded Republican gubernatorial primary field.

“Pam Evette is a good friend, fighter, and WINNER, and will be a terrific Governor of South Carolina,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “Pam has my Complete and Total Endorsement — SHE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”

On election night last week, Evette received the most votes, and Attorney General Alan Wilson came in second. Neither received the majority of votes needed to avoid a runoff, which will now take place on Tuesday.

On Friday, Trump took to Truth Social to reiterate his endorsement of Evette, but added that he is also endorsing Wilson:

Both have had amazing careers, and have been with me from the beginning. They are MAGA and America First all the way! These were the two that I was hoping would get into a Runoff, and they did. I can’t hurt one of them by only Endorsing the other, so, therefore, I am going to Endorse, for Governor of South Carolina, both Pam Evette and Alan Wilson! It’s a Wealth of Riches – With either one you can’t go wrong. Vote for Pam or Alan — They will not let you down! President DONALD J. TRUMP

It is not the first time Trump has endorsed two candidates in the same primary. In 2024, he endorsed Blake Masters and Abe Hamadeh in a U.S. House race in Arizona that Hamadeh eventually won. Last year, the president backed Rep. Andy Biggs and Karrin Taylor Robinson in the Arizona Republican gubernatorial primary, which will be held on July 21.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) had hoped to score Trump’s endorsement in the South Carolina primary, and went so far as to insist she had his backing by posting an AI-generated image of the two of them giving the thumbs up.

“Pamela Evette is NOT ENDORSED by DONALD TRUMP,” Mace wrote on social media. “Do not believe her LIES.” Hours later, the president endorsed Evette.

The post Trump Pulls the Rug From Candidate He Previously Endorsed, Now Says He’s Endorsing Her Opponent Also first appeared on Mediaite.

During Friday’s edition of The Five, Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade took issue with Vice President JD Vance’s recent critiques of the Israeli government, declaring that he “has to rethink his attack.”

At Thursday’s White House press briefing, Vance was asked about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reported “fuming” reaction to the 14-point memorandum of understanding with Iran.

“If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left ‌in the entire world,“ the vice president said.

He continued, “The problem for Israel is not [President] Donald J. Trump, and anybody in Israel who thinks their biggest problem is the president of the United States needs to wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in.”

Having expressed that he was “shocked” by Vance’s comments earlier on Friday, Kilmeade continued with his criticism on The Five. 

“[Sen.] Ted Cruz [R-TX] was extremely critical,” he said, referring to the senator’s negative reaction to the MOU, “and there’s reason to be.”

For context, on a Friday episode of his podcast, Cruz specifically attacked the part of the plan that will give Iran, with the help of regional partners, $300 billion to redevelop, saying that “giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is a very, very bad idea.”

Kilmeade added:

I think JD Vance has to rethink his attack on Israel. The only reason Israel attacks anyone is because they were attacked. Four IDF soldiers died. That’s why they hit it. Hezbollah hits Israel because Iran tells them to. Israel isn’t blowing up any deal. They’re defending themselves. The minute they stop defending themselves, then their ability to exist diminishes. The president was wrong. The president is the best friend Israel has ever had — that is 100% true. But Israel will survive. They are not gonna die from a nuclear weapon. They’ll knock it outta the sky, do a preemptive attack.

Watch the full clip above via Fox News.

The post Kilmeade Hits JD Vance Over Israel Criticism: He ‘Has To Rethink His Attack’ first appeared on Mediaite.

Tucker Carlson went to bat for progressive U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner during an interview this week with the hosts of the Canadian podcast Can’t Be Censored.

Carlson joined hosts Travis Dhanraj and Karman Wong for a lengthy conversation about the news of the day and the various scandals surrounding Carlson, including accusations of anti-Semitism and working on behalf of foreign countries to undermine the U.S.

Carlson spoke about President Donald Trump and his disappointment with the president. “I mean, I’ve always liked Trump. He’s charming. I’ve known him for so long, most of my life, really, at this point. And I feel sorry for him. He is enslaved by greater powers. He’s not free to make whatever decision he wants to make. So I feel sorry for him in that way,” Carlson said, beginning a lengthy answer.

Dhanraj then asked, “So if what you’re saying is true, if there are levers being pulled, do you think that it will ever come to light what the actual evidence is when it comes to this? What [is] the leverage that exists right now or previously existed?”

After a long back and forth, Carlson was asked who might ever come to power to tear down the system. “Anyone come to mind?” asked Wong.

“No, honestly. I know a lot of good people, but I don’t know. I mean, who would want that? Who would want to be a politician? It’s just so ugly. And then the second you announce, every bad thing you’ve ever done, everything that your kids have done, every relative you have who’s been to rehab or pinched a waitress’s butt is on the front of Daily Mail. The whole thing is just absolutely awful,” Carlson replied, adding:

Look at Graham Platner, this guy who’s running in the state of Maine where I live. He’s a Democrat, he’s liberal. I don’t have strong feelings about it. But rather than respond to what the guy’s positions are, they’ve just called him a Nazi for the last month because he had a tattoo that was not a swastika, but apparently was connected to the German military at some point. It’s not even clear he knew that. But they’ve attacked the guy in his personal life. It’s like they don’t like him because he’s not sufficiently supportive of Israel.

Notably, extensive reporting, including from CNN, has largely rebutted Platner’s claim that he did not know his tattoo was the Totenkopf – a symbol used by the Nazi SS and concentration camp guards.

Earlier in the episode, Carlson also baselessly claimed that Charlie Kirk was killed because of his “evolving views on Israel.”

“Well, you’re never going to hear me whine about threats, ever. To me, because I got in this voluntarily. I mean, I got fired after 15 years — the highest-rated show in American cable television — and I got fired for my opinion. And I’m not whining at all. I’m so grateful that I got fired. I’m just saying, it’s not like I didn’t know what the price is. I do know what the price is,” Carlson said, adding:

Charlie Kirk was murdered. Yeah. And he was not murdered for his opinions on transgenderism, obviously. He was, I believe — and most people who knew him well as I did and was friends with him as I was — believe he was most likely murdered for his evolving views on Israel. So I get it. A lot’s at stake. The world is at stake. But from my perspective, I have a duty to say what I think is true. I’m often wrong. And I always say that because it’s a fact. I have been wrong a lot and I may be wrong now, but I am sincere. I’m saying what I believe is true and I’m going to continue doing that no matter what.

Watch the full interview above.

The post Tucker Carlson Defends Graham Platner Over Nazi Tattoo Scandal, Slams Trump first appeared on Mediaite.

AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson

CNN’s Daniel Dale ticked off examples of one of President Donald Trump’s oft-repeated lies Friday — claiming notable figures “begged” him for favors.

Dale’s article came in the aftermath of Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s rebuke, after Trump told an Italian journalist at the G7 summit, “She begged me to take a picture with her. She wanted a picture with me so ​badly. I wouldn’t have taken it, but I felt sorry for her.”

Meloni declared in a statement, “There is one thing he should remember: Neither I nor Italy ever beg.”

“We don’t know for certain who is telling the truth here,” Dale wrote on CNN.com. “What we can say is that if Trump did make up the story, nobody should be shocked. The president has a years-long history of telling false or highly dubious tales about people having supposedly begged him for things.”

Dale wrote that Trump particularly enjoyed making these claims about one-time supporters who defied him in some way. “It’s his version of the old ‘you can’t fire me, I quit’ face-saving dominance play,” Dale wrote.

In an example from 2016, Trump claimed that Republican operative Cheri Jacobus, “Begged my people for a job. Turned her down twice and she went hostile.”

Jacobus provided proof, however, that Trump’s campaign team actually reached out to her about working for him.

In another example from the same year, Trump claimed that conservative activist Brent Bozell came to his office, “begging for money like a dog.”

Bozell hit back in a 2019 book, writing, “I had not gone to him for money; he’d invited me for lunch to discuss his potential campaign. I hadn’t groveled. I hadn’t even asked for money. He’d offered it.” Bozell went on to become Trump’s US ambassador to South Africa.

Trump claimed in 2017 that Republican “Senator Bob Corker ‘begged’ me to endorse him for re-election in Tennessee. I said ‘NO’ and he dropped out (said he could not win without my endorsement).” Corker’s office vehemently disagreed, saying Trump had repeatedly encouraged the senator to run again — and did offer his endorsement.

In other examples, like with former FBI Director James Comey and TV host John Oliver, Trump may not have used the word “begged,” but the sentiment was the same.

After Trump claimed that Oliver had “had his people call to ask me to be on his very boring and low rated show” but that “I said ‘NO THANKS’ Waste of time & energy!” Oliver hit back: “It was a total lie. A meaningless lie. What kind of moron would lie about something this pathetic?”

The post CNN’s Daniel Dale Rattles Off Trump Lies About People ‘Begging’ Him For Stuff first appeared on Mediaite.

Comedy Central

The Daily Show host Jordan Klepper took a closer look at Thursday’s chaotic scenes when the New York Knicks held their championship parade.

The parade began Thursday morning, with an estimated two million fans lining the parade route. With it being a celebration of the Knicks’ first championship in more than half a century, demand for the event was so extraordinary that the NYPD announced there was no space left — two hours before the parade even began.

On Thursday night’s episode of The Daily Show, Klepper put into perspective just how much things had changed since the team’s last championship.

“The last time New York won, the recipe for Katz’s pastrami sandwiches still included actual cocaine,” Klepper joked, “and all of the weed shops that used to be vape shops were cigar shops!”

Klepper also took a moment to acknowledge the awkward moment that NYPD officers confused a Knicks player for a fan. As Tyler Kolek ran along the barrier high-fiving fans, officers surrounded him in an attempt to apprehend him. He quickly identified himself and was let go.

“I will say, as a regular tall guy that’s always asked if I play basketball, it’s nice to finally see a basketball player get mistaken for just a regular tall guy,” Klepper said. “Plus, it sure is a change seeing a white guy getting unjustly stopped by the cops. Happy Juneteenth, everybody!”

Then, there was the viral clip of two Chick-Fil-A delivery workers trying to do their job in a sea of Knicks fans. The two could be seen navigating the crowds with large boxes of food held above their heads.

“That’s a nice effort, but there’s really no chance this guy is going to make it through that crowd,” Klepper continued. “He’s better off just throwing the Chick-Fil-A bag up and hoping OG Anunoby can tip it to the customer.”

The post Daily Show Comic Has a Field Day With New York Knicks Parade Mayhem: ‘No Chance This Guy Is Going to Make it Through That Crowd!’ first appeared on Mediaite.

Screenshot via YouTube

Yonit Levi, the veteran Israeli journalist and news anchor, spoke with Bridgewater CEO Nir Bar Dea this week and asked the head of the world’s largest hedge fund if Israel betting on the U.S. was a “mistake.” Bar Dea replied by sounding the alarm more generally on President Donald Trump’s economic policies and warned that Trump inadvertently told the global economy to stop investing in the U.S.

“Israel put all of its eggs—politically, diplomatically, militarily, financially—in the U.S. Was that a mistake?” Levi asked on her Unholy podcast, which she co-hosts with Jonathan Freedland.

“The world has put its entire eggs in the U.S., both economically and security-wise. This is what the entire world has done over the last several decades,” Bar Dea replied, adding:

Well, you know, the administration was focused on trade deficits and was imposing tariffs. Just remember, the mirror image of the trade deficit is the capital surplus. What I mean by that is that the trade deficit was compensated for by the fact that every economy in the world was sending their money back into U.S. assets—70 cents of every dollar that went into equities, went into U.S. equities. The reason that’s important is because that’s the thing that funded the U.S. That’s the thing that funded the S&P. That’s the thing that funded the AI revolution.

And one day, President Trump decided that no longer would the trade deficit work in the national interest of the United States. There’s a reason why he got elected for that reason. But at the same time, the rest of the world said, “Well, I’m not going to send my money to the U.S. if this is the way this is going to be. I’m going to spend my money here locally and rebuild my defense, rebuild my energy infrastructure.” The world woke up.

Just like you said Yonit, like Israel—and said, “Hey, we had a massive U.S. bet, we have to diversify away from the U.S.” And I agree with your point that Israel is on the far end, having one concentrated U.S. bet.

Watch the clip above.

The post ‘The World Woke Up’: CEO of World’s Largest Hedge Fund Warns Trump Stopping Global Investment In the US first appeared on Mediaite.

In a Friday Axios interview with Marc Caputo, President Donald Trump revealed why he told world leaders, “I’m the boss,” at this week’s G7 Leaders’ Summit.

On Wednesday, at the 52nd Group of 7 (G7) Summit at Evian-le-Bains in France, Trump was late to a working session with G7 leaders and International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) officials, titled “Promoting balanced, shared and sustainable economic growth.”

After French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged his tardiness, Trump arrived and declared, “I’m the boss!” to laughter from the crowd.

Calling the summit “tremendous” and “very dominant,” Trump told Axios’ Caputo that he “got what I wanted.”

When questioned about his “I’m the boss!” declaration and “how many [G7 leaders] believe that,” the president said, “All of ’em. But I was just being funny. What happened is they were all sitting, and then I walked into the room, and it was just sort of funny because there was a very long table, but there was only seven of ’em. The table was meant for, like, 30 people.”

He continued:

So, the whole end of the table looked like, almost, the perfect podium-type set-up, right? And I saw them all sitting, and they’re all well-known figures, right? The heads of countries — we had a couple of others in there too, as you know. Some like, as an example, [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi of India — great guy. A lot of people came. They’re allowed to come if they want and sit.

But I walked in there, these leaders, and I just looked at ’em. I said, “I’m the boss and you remember.” And you know that was done as a joke. This thing got carried all over the world. I can’t believe it. I was just being cute, funny. I wasn’t trying to be the boss.

Watch the full clip above via @axios on YouTube.

The post Trump Reveals Why He Told World Leaders ‘I’m the Boss’ at G7 first appeared on Mediaite.

(Photo by Samuel Corum/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)

Social media roasted the looks of a top Trump donor after it was discovered his company received the contract for the botched Reflecting Pool renovation.

President Donald Trump spent more than $14 million to revitalize the pool at the Lincoln Memorial, and that expense has come under immense scrutiny by critics. Just days after the project was complete, algae began to form in the pool. Then, the new coat of paint installed at the bottom of the pool began to peel and rise to the surface.

The Trump administration gave a no-bid contract for the project to Greenwater Services, an Ohio-based company. As noted in a report from Yahoo, the company’s owned by the J.J. Cafaro Investment Trust, which is led by John J. Cafaro.

In a Friday morning tweet, former Department of Labor judge Moe Davis pointed out that Cafaro was previously convicted for bribing a member of Congress. Included in Davis’s tweet was a photo of Cafaro.

Social media was quick to take note of Cafaro’s unique appearance. Atlantic writer Tom Nichols joked that Cafaro’s “clever pool trap will kill Batman for sure,” implying that Cafaro bore a resemblance to the famed Batman villain Penguin.

Pod Save America co-host Tommy Vietor called Cafaro “incredible” and suggested that Netflix make him the subject of a documentary series.

Countless others made references to comic books, mobsters, and even the WWE while joking about Carafo’s appearance.

—

The post Photo of Felon Who Whiffed on Reflecting Pool Renovation Likens Him to Mobster, Comic Book Villain first appeared on Mediaite.

President Donald Trump bragged about his new airplane on Friday, courtesy of the Qatari government, as he described it as “the world’s most luxurious plane.”

Trump unveiled the sparkling new $400 million Boeing jet before a crowd at Joint Base Andrews.

“We were, had a little bit of a log jam with the, I call them the ‘normal 747s,'” Trump said. “And I asked the Emir if we could use the brand new 747 that he got when we first heard about it.”

Trump continued, “And I said, ‘We’d like to use it for a little while,’ because our planes are pretty old. See, a normal president wouldn’t do this. A normal president wants to stay away from aircraft. We don’t want to order any aircraft so that everybody thinks — but our country has to be represented properly.”

“And the hangar was built for the large plane,” Trump said. “The other plane is such a difference in size. But there will never be one like this. This is very unique. This is considered the world’s most luxurious plane when it was built. It was built at a level that will probably never be seen again.”

Trump then offered to let the press have a tour.

“And if the press would like, I don’t know if it’s going to help me with stories. I don’t think there’ll be any difference, but what we’re going to do is take you for just a quick tour,” Trump said. “The press is actually, — Oh, look at them! They are actually smiling,” he claimed, while peering over the crowd toward the press pool.

“Are you smiling? First time I’ve seen them smile in years!” Trump exclaimed. “They don’t smile at Republicans. They should smile at Republicans because we’re the ones that make America great. Anyway, but that’s good. You happy about that? And, we’ll do it. So, when I leave they’ll take you for a little tour. You’ll see something you won’t even believe. You’ll be spending a lot of time doing a lot of trips. Going to Turkey. We’ll be going at some point during the year back to China.”

Last July, Republican members of the Senate Appropriations Committee voted against an amendment prohibiting Trump from keeping the Qatari plane after his term.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

The post ‘Are You Smiling?’ Trump Jabs the Media As He Claims Journalists Are Happy to Tour His New Plane first appeared on Mediaite.

During a Friday appearance on MS NOW, legal analyst Scott MacFarlane sounded the alarm on the news that the Department of Justice refused to sign a confirmation officially declaring President Donald Trump’s anti-weaponization fund dead, calling the move “all kinds of sus.”

On Friday, the DOJ rejected U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema’s request that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche sign a declaration promising the administration wouldn’t move forward with the fund, meant to reimburse those who allege they were improperly targeted by former President Joe Biden’s administration, calling the signing “unnecessary.”

MacFarlane told MS NOW’s Katy Tur of the decision, “Oh boy, Todd Blanche has got a problem on his hands here. [Sen.] Thom Tillis [R-NC], the pivotal vote on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Katy, says he’s got a ‘slush fund issue’ with Todd Blanche right now. He doesn’t want the slush fund moving forward.”

MacFarlane’s comments come as Blanche’s confirmation hearing for the permanent AG role rapidly approaches, scheduled for July 15 and 16.

“This kind of equivocation, this kind of sleight of hand with the court, is going to concern Sen. Tillis, and that endangers Todd Blanche’s road forward,” he continued.

MacFarlane went on to add that he believes the judge “wanted this thing in writing for a reason” and that he’s “not sure she’s gonna accept this 5-page argument from the Trump administration.”

Also of major note, said MacFarlane, is Blanche’s word choice.

“Todd Blanche used the phrase ‘the slush fund’s not moving forward’ ten times — always precisely wording it that way,” he explained. “That is all kinds of sus… You could have said you’re halting it. You could have said it’s never gonna happen. You could have said it’s over. ‘Not moving forward’ is just the type of passive voice that gives them room for error — room to maneuver, I should say.”

Watch the full clip above via MS NOW.

The post ‘All Kinds of Sus’: Legal Analyst On MS NOW Sounds Alarm On Trump DOJ Refusing to Sign Declaration Killing Weaponization Fund first appeared on Mediaite.

Jon Cypher, former deputy chief of the CIA’s Russia operations, warned that President Donald Trump has installed a “political arsonist” to temporarily head up the Department of National Intelligence.

Trump named Bill Pulte as his acting intel chief after Tulsi Gabbard announced she was stepping down, despite Pulte’s lack of any intelligence experience or top secret clearance. The president delayed the Senate hearing for permanent nominee Jay Clayton so Pulte ostensibly could have more time in office.

“It’s clear that every day, more and more, the president wants somebody in that job whose job is just to be a political hatchet man — cherry pick intelligence so they can…fire people they don’t like,” Cypher told CNN’s Omar Jimenez.

As the director of Trump’s Federal Housing Finance Agency, Pulte went after the president’s perceived enemies for alleged mortgage fraud, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA).

Pulte showed up early to his new job at DNI this week, and is reportedly eyeing hundreds of potential firings.

“So, clearly it looks like the president put an arsonist in charge and then hoped that the Senate would push back so that he can then bully the Senate to get what he wants on this voting thing,” Cypher said of Trump’s desire for the Senate to pass the SAVE America Act, requiring voter I.D.

“Democrats held up [FISA] renewal over Pulte’s appointment as acting DNI, and President Trump now also says he’ll refuse to sign any FISA reauthorization unless this voting bill, the SAVE Act, is attached to it or also passed,” Cypher explained.

“So it’s going to be interesting to see, because I do think there are a mixture of Republicans, Democrats who will come together on this because Pulte is, like I said, a political arsonist, and is quite dangerous in that position,” Cypher added.

Cypher described the expiring Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act as “a complicated thing.”

“It’s essentially collecting foreign intelligence over the airwaves,” Cypher said. “If someone’s on computers or phones overseas and it works its way through United States infrastructure, we need to have a means to collect that. It’s it’s been complicated, but I think this is just a political game to try to stop somebody like Pulte being in charge. And so, it’s gonna be interesting to see if Democrats and Republicans will work together, because this person is so unfit for the job.”

Watch the clip above via CNN.

The post CNN Analyst Warns Trump Just Installed a ‘Political Arsonist’ As Head of US Intelligence first appeared on Mediaite.

NewsNation International Correspondent Robert Sherman reported from inside the Strait of Hormuz on Friday and noted that while some ships are getting through, most of them are “holding and waiting” to make sure it’s safe.

Sherman showed clips from inside the Strait while on air and added, “What we saw out there on the waterways, I have to tell you, Marni, it is a very tense environment. Seeing all these ships that have been left in gridlock, here’s a quick description of what we saw there.”

“Started along the horizon, you can see all of these ships sitting here, waiting. There’s over 500 of them on either side of the Strait of Hormuz. Officials are saying it’s open for business, but as you can see, many are still holding and waiting. Not certain it’s safe yet,” he reported, adding:

And then if you go down the coastline, Marni, this was so striking to see all of the air defense systems, all of the radar sites as well. A reminder that we talk about the Strait of Hormuz in an economic sense, very much so considered an active war zone in that part of the world, in which at the closest point, it’s 21 miles that separates Iran and Oman. The distance between the UAE and Iran is also just a couple of dozen miles as well.

It’s one of the easier targets that Iran has that coastline there when it comes to their drones. From what we have seen monitoring the trackers, more ships are going through. It’s estimated that at least two dozen have over the last 24 hours. That’s well down from what we saw at the pre-war levels there, but certainly an uptick from the absolute standstill that we’ve all been witnessing here over the last few months

Reopening the Strait to commercial traffic is a key point in President Donald Trump’s deal with Iran. Iran strangled the Strait, one of the world’s key energy transit hubs, during the conflict in order to put economic pressure on the president, which eventually led to a push for a quick deal on Trump’s part.

On Friday, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard sowed confusion by declaring the Strait of Hormuz closed following an exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah, but the Iranian foreign minister quickly released a statement saying it was open.

Watch the clip above via NewsNation.

The post ‘Holding And Waiting’: NewsNation Reports From Inside The Strait of Hormuz Most Ships Still Not Passing first appeared on Mediaite.

Fox News’ Bret Baier ran through a list of major concerns around President Donald Trump’s 14-point deal with Iran, warning there has been more than 40 years of Iran negotiating “in a way that is not in good faith.”

Baier joined Patrick Bet-David on The PBD Podcast on Friday, where he discussed his decades in media, interviewing past presidents, moderating debates, and more. Baier also gave an overall view of the 14-point deal between the United States and Iran.

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) is a 60-day ceasefire deal meant to open up wider negotiations. There has been bipartisan pushback, even from some stern supporters of the president, over what the current deal offers Iran, which includes sanctions being lifted, a $300 billion reconstruction investment fund, and more. Vice President JD Vance was meant to fly to Switzerland on Friday to formally sign the deal, but the trip was postponed amid Israeli strikes against the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. A ceasefire in Lebanon has since been agreed to by Israel.

Baeir said he found it “pretty telling” that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has not publicly commented on the deal, while Vance has been “everywhere” defending it.

“I’ve noticed his silence over the last few days, and I think it’s pretty telling that he hasn’t weighed in publicly. And JD’s been out on every single show, the VP has been everywhere defending this deal,” the anchor told Bet-David.

Baier warned though, that concern comes from the fact that there have been decades of unsuccessful negotiations with Iran over nuclear weapons and sponsoring terrorism. Baier argued, however, that Vance and others behind the deal should be given the “benefit of the doubt” and a chance to work through the 60 days of negotiations.

He said:

More power to [Vance]. He is, you know, defending it and from the administration’s point of view, you know, to the point where you have to give him the benefit of the doubt that maybe the 60 day negotiation works and it goes like they think, but there’s so much history, as you know, the past 47 years of the Iranians negotiating in a way that is not in good faith and is always cheating and the biggest criticism is the money. The administration says they’re not going to get a red cent; however, they’ve lifted the oil restrictions and now oil is flowing. That’s money that goes right to the regime. We’ll see, you got to give them the time for the negotiation, but the criticism from both sides of the aisle is that this is going to be more of the same and the gulf Arab states are really scared that it suddenly empowers this regime that has been heinous.

“What do you say to the people who say that Iran got the better end of the deal here?” Bet-David asked.

Baier explained Iran is not where “we thought they were going to be at the end of this action,” but their Navy and Air Force have also taken significant damage. Baier noted a number of things not included in the current deal, including significant guardrails on Iran’s missile program and protections for civil rights in the country.

“There’s nothing in this deal that prevents them from killing 40,000 Iranians if they go out in the streets and protest,” Baier said, referencing reports of Iranian forces’ lethal crackdown on protesters in January amid widespread protests against the regime.

The exact death toll is not known, but reports have put the number in the thousands.

Baier said:

One thing, listen, their Navy was destroyed, the Air Force was destroyed, they were set back, but they still have a ton of missiles. They still have, at least how they talk about things, they are talking like they have all the cards, they don’t, but they are talking like they do and the regime is still intact.

There’s nothing in this deal that prevents them from killing 40,000 Iranians if they go out in the streets and protest. There’s nothing in this deal that limits the expansion of their missile program to the point where they go longer and it’s more of a threat to us, or Europe. We’ll see what this nuclear negotiation over 60 days looks like. I don’t think that they’re better off, but they’re definitely not in the place that we thought they were going to be at the end of this action.

Watch above via The PBD Podcast.

The post Bret Baier Lists Off Major Concerns With Trump’s Iran Deal on PBD Podcast: Nothing ‘Prevents Them From Killing 40,000 Iranians’ first appeared on Mediaite.

(Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP photo)

President Donald Trump personally decorating the Oval Office with super glue, a panicked call from Barron Trump after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, and White House officials holding Situation Room meetings about Jeffrey Epstein are among the more eyebrow-raising details contained in a new book from New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.

In an excerpt published by the Times on Friday ahead of next week’s release of Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, Haberman and Swan recounted several unusual moments from Trump’s second term.

The Superglue

Among them: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reportedly walked into the Oval Office one morning to find Trump in the middle of a decorating project. According to the book, the president was using a tube of super glue to attach gold-colored ornaments to the room’s marble fireplace mantel. Haberman and Swan wrote that “the sight of the president squeezing glue onto gilded appliqués and mounting them on the wall himself surprised no one in his inner circle.”

Barron’s Call

The authors also described Trump’s reaction after the September killing of Kirk. According to the book, Trump first learned of Kirk’s death from his son Barron, who called his father in distress, worried about his father’s safety. Trump reportedly tried to calm him down, telling Barron, “Calm down, honey, calm down,” though the journalists wrote that the president appeared shaken as well.

Epstein Panic

Elsewhere, Haberman and Swan reported that senior administration officials spent considerable time discussing the political fallout surrounding Epstein. One official later described the experience of sitting inside the White House Situation Room — typically reserved for major national security crises — and discussing allegations connected to Trump and Epstein as “surreal,” recalling conversations about “Donald Trump and abused nipples.” Many of these details were previously made public in an excerpt-based report released last week by the Times.

Mocking Tech Titans

In another revealing moment, Trump reportedly boasted that powerful tech executives had changed their posture toward him after his 2024 victory. Reflecting on outreach from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Trump told Tesla CEO Elon Musk, “They hated me,” before adding, “And look at them now.”

“First-class groveling,” Musk replied, according to the book.

Rupert’s Take

The book also detailed an awkward White House dinner at which Trump asked media mogul Rupert Murdoch whether he preferred Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio, while both men were sitting at the table. According to the authors, Murdoch said Vance had “the potential to be great” but was more emphatic about Rubio: “Marco is brilliant.”

Read the full article here.

The post From Superglued Gold to Epstein: 5 Jaw-Dropping Trump WH Revelations From the NY Times first appeared on Mediaite.

Michael Smerconish told CNN Friday that Donald Trump’s Iran deal is “just like” Obama’s JCPOA that took effect in 2016, and that he would have liked to have seen that agreement “play itself out” before Trump ripped it up.

Smerconish told host Pamela Brown that it was too soon for him to tell if Trump’s 14-point Memorandum of Understanding with Iran was a good deal or not.

“I think that some of the criticism of President Trump comes from the category of, if Trump’s for it, then certain people think they’ve got to be against it,” Smerconish said. “I’m not saying that I find everything acceptable in those 14 points. It’s point number eight that troubles me the most. It’s particularly vague about the enriched uranium, which is my chief concern.”

“But I guess I would ask this question of people who out of the gate are critical in saying that it’s a mistake: Maybe it’s the worst possible outcome, except for the alternatives,” he continued. “Are you prepared to put American boots on the ground for a different result? To open the strait by force, or to go get the so-called nuclear dust? It’s really complicated. I just don’t think we’re going to know until more time goes off the clock. And we see what the final agreement looks like.”

Smerconish said he’s willing to give the president credit if he obtains a successful outcome, but would have like to have seen former President Barack Obama’s JCPOA seen through.

“There was still time on the clock” for that to have happened, Smerconish said.

“I thought that the intent that president Obama had is very similar. This is the worst thing that President Trump could ever hear, but that he seems to be on the same page with President Obama, in that each sought to bring Iran into the western world and to make them part more of the global community,” Smerconish continued. “That’s where they both seem to have ended up. And maybe we should have just allowed that to play itself out instead of tearing up the JCPOA.”

Watch the clip above via CNN.

The post Smerconish Says Trump’s Iran Deal Is Just Like Obama’s: ‘Worst Thing That President Trump Could Ever Hear’ first appeared on Mediaite.