An administration appointee blew off President Donald Trump as a "lazy warmonger" after his approach to the military conflict in Iran led to what that official called an inevitable defeat.

While the self-described "Peace President" has proven adept at initiating wars, even his own senior officials believe the 80-year-old lacks the sustained commitment to prosecute them with the required intensity, and they told Zeteo that left the U.S. in a bad position entering peace negotiations.

“They’ve got him by the balls,” said another senior U.S. official, who requested anonymity to avoid being fired or jailed. “We want out, and [the Iranians] know we don’t have all the cards.”

Trump signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Wednesday with Iran at the Palace of Versailles, symbolically invoking one of history's most infamous treaties while attempting to frame the agreement as anything but a surrender.

Senior administration officials and Pentagon aides told analysts that the U.S. had exhausted its negotiating position and faced an imminent economic crisis if hostilities continued.

Multiple Trump advisers acknowledged the administration lacks the leverage it publicly claims, with officials citing concerns that prolonged conflict could destabilize the global economy, undermine Republican midterm prospects, and potentially destabilize the administration itself.

Trump's repeated threats of resumed bombing campaigns have lost credibility with both Iranian and American officials. His pattern of threatening "mass slaughter" and ground invasions before withdrawing has convinced senior government figures in both countries that he lacks the political will to resume the conflict in any meaningful way.

At the G7 summit, Trump attempted to project toughness, saying "if I don't like it, we'll go back to shooting at them, dropping bombs on their head," and "if they don't behave, we'll go back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head." Yet these threats carry diminished weight given his demonstrated reluctance to sustain military operations.

"This is true of many officials and aides I’ve spoken to lately at the Pentagon, White House, and elsewhere," reported Zeteo's Asawin Suebsaeng. "Trump lost this one, badly."

Former first lady Michelle Obama took a moment Thursday afternoon to troll President Donald Trump as she delivered a powerful speech during an event honoring her husband, former President Barack Obama.

Crowds poured into Chicago for the grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center as part of a dedication ceremony. During a rousing speech, Michelle called her husband "unflappable" at every turn.

"Always focused, always calm, always looking at the long view," she said, seeming to contrast her husband with Trump.

"How absurd it is to even imagine that you might have buckled under the pressure even once," she said. "Lashed out in frustration. Lost your temper."

Michelle Obama characterized it as unthinkable that her husband could have done anything not to make their family and the country proud.

The crowd erupted in applause and came to its feet. But the former first lady wasn't done, jabbing the current president one more time by noting Barack Obama accomplished something Trump hasn't: "Winning a Peace Prize."

Her apparent jabs at the president come after a MAGA UFC fighter attacked Michelle at Trump's birthday bash over the weekend.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani trolled Knicks owner James Dolan during the team's championship celebration.

The Knicks won their first title Saturday since 1973, and the city held a parade for a team that has already been hailed as the greatest in New York's long and storied sports history, and Mamdani lauded past players and fans who suffered through the championship drought together.

For 53 long years, we have watched the Nixon, we have waited," the mayor said. "We waited as the memory of Willis Reed winning the championship on one leg grew fainter and fainter. We waited as 'Clyde' [Walt Frazier] came up clutch again and again. As John Starks dunked on [Michael] Jordan and Patrick Ewing dunked on the Pacers. As Bernard King scored 60."

Mamdani then named a Knicks legend who's been embroiled in a years-long feud with Dolan, who angered fans by inviting President Donald Trump to Game 3 – the only game they lost in the playoffs – and forced thousands to wait in hours-long security lines and disrupted traffic around Madison Square Garden.

"As Charles Oakley pulled every rebound within reach," Mamdani said, as Dolan looks on, "and Spike [Lee] got in Reggie Miller's face. As Aaron Houston put up a shot against Miami that hung in the air for an eternity. As Larry Johnson gave us the four-point play heard around New York. As 'Starbury' [Stephon Marbury] traded threes with Kobe [Bryant] and then sold sneakers every kid could afford. As Nate Robinson stuffed Yao Ming. As the city came alive, watching Linsanity [Jeremy Lin]? And Carmelo [Anthon] lived every Brooklyn kid's dreams when he came home and made MSG feel like the center of the universe once again."

"We waited without ever knowing if this day would come, and we waited because we knew deep down in our sick, suffering hearts that it would," Mamdani added. "New York City, this team has done it. The New York Knicks are NBA champions."

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and Vice President JD Vance have adopted a sauerkraut-and-kimchi-heavy diet promoted by physician Dr. Sean O'Mara.

The diet promises weight loss and improved gut health through fermented foods and grass-fed steak, reports the Wall Street Journal.

The regimen's adherents acknowledge the sulfurous odors as a tradeoff worth accepting for health benefits.

Kennedy, following the diet for approximately one year, wakes at 6:30 a.m. daily to prepare steak and sauerkraut. His wife Cheryl Hines, also recalled him asking her to carry sauerkraut in her designer handbags while traveling, while in conversation with Katie Miller.

Lutnick ferments his own vegetables, while Vance snacks on fermented items aboard Air Force Two.

Duffy's visible results — glowing skin — reportedly drew the attention of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who became a convert.

O'Mara charges up to $18,000 for consultations, arguing appearance and energy improvements justify lingering odors.

Watch the video below.

Officials at Palm Beach International Airport were deluged with angry comments — including a bomb threat — after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis paved the way for the facility to be renamed President Donald J. Trump International Airport.

According to NOTUS reporting by David Levinthal, who obtained the airport's website comments log via a Florida Public Records Act request, airport officials faced the brunt of abuse and boycott threats from travelers furious over the renaming.

According to the report, the backlash was swift and severe. One commenter identifying as "Florida Native" wrote on April 2: "I will never fly in or out of this pathetic, a-s-kissing airport again once you change the name to honor the most corrupt, incompetent, disastrous moron to ever hold the office."

Another traveler promised: "I will never again utilize PBI for any travel plans now that it is named for the orange headed clown."

A third commenter promised retribution: "If you actually change the name of this airport and honor that man, I will make it my mission in life to never, ever, EVER spend a penny at your airport."

The rage intensified as the renaming became official. On May 5—the day The New York Times published a story revealing "To rename its airport after Trump, Palm Beach had to license his name"—one commenter wrote: "You bunch of spineless m-----------s. Taxes aren't to make Trump rich. That is corruption," while noting the president was licensing his name and stood to profit.

According to the NOTUS report, "One person, citing Trump, made a bomb threat — it’s unclear whether officials investigated — saying they had placed explosive devices within the airport and on an outbound plane. They demanded $30 million to not detonate them."

Levinthal added, "At least 17 messages mentioned pedophilia in some form or fashion — not-so-oblique references to Trump’s onetime friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, the dead financier and socialite who served prison time for soliciting a minor for prostitution and later faced more than 40 years in prison over charges related to sex trafficking minors. Trump has denied wrongdoing in connection with Epstein’s crime or criminal allegations against the convicted sex offender," before adding, "Several commenters encouraged Florida officials to perform sex acts on themselves."

President Donald Trump lashed out on Truth Social, insisting there is no $300 billion U.S. payment to Iran tied to his new peace deal and blaming Democrats for the reports.

"There is no 300 Billion Dollar payment to Iran by the U.S. That's Fake News!" Trump wrote. "All there is for the U.S. is Success, Lower Oil Prices, and Victory. Check out the Stock Market. Dumocrat propaganda at play!!!"

The post is the latest in a string of denials over a figure that appears in the deal's own text.

On Wednesday, the administration released the 14-point memorandum of understanding the U.S. and Iran reached over the weekend, which says the U.S., "together with its regional partners," will ensure financing of at least $300 billion for a reconstruction fund for Iran. Trump was swiftly fact-checked online after an earlier post calling the number fake.

Vice President JD Vance has acknowledged the sum, telling CBS News that Iran "could have access" to the fund if it meets its obligations. Vance said the money would be funded by the "Gulf Coast coalition," not U.S. taxpayers, a distinction Trump echoed when he said the U.S. would not put up "10 cents." Some critics noted that if the figure were fake, Vance would not have confirmed it on national television.

The number drew immediate criticism online, with commentators pointing out that it's larger than Iran's annual budget and contradicts Trump's earlier vow that Iran would get no money "in any way, shape, or form."

Trump has stressed the deal is not final, warning the U.S. could resume bombing "if they don't behave."

Kari Lake, President Trump's nominee for ambassador to Jamaica, refused to retract a debunked smear against a sitting Democratic U.S. senator at her confirmation hearing, insisting her claim was not wrong.

The confrontation came during Lake's appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) pressed her over a 2024 campaign claim that Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), then a House member running against Lake for Senate, was "controlled by the cartels," a charge PolitiFact rated "pants on fire."

Kaine opened by invoking Gallego's memoir, in which the Arizona Democrat wrote about being abandoned by a father who ended up in criminal trouble — and changing his last name to his mother's maiden name in response.

"'This is not something to fool around with,'" Kaine told Lake. "'Ms. Lake accused one of our sitting colleagues of being controlled by the cartels. You had no evidence then, nor do you have any evidence now, that our colleague Sen. Gallego is controlled by cartels, do you, Ms. Lake?'"

"'Well, we provided the receipts,'" Lake replied, pointing to Gallego's father.

Kaine cut her off: "'You provided no evidence. This was rated pants on fire — a lie. You had no evidence then, and you have no evidence now that Ruben Gallego is controlled by cartels. Isn't that right?'"

"'I don't know,'" Lake said, "'and I'm not here to do — reputational repair.'"

"'How about an apology to our colleague?'" Kaine demanded.

"'I don't believe my charge was wrong,'" Lake replied.

Kaine then revealed Lake had repeated the claim after the campaign ended. When Gallego posted on X opposing the invasion of Venezuela, Lake responded at 2:35 a.m.: "'You are a member of a Mexican cartel family. You are also a fraud! No one is surprised by your take.'"

"'You had no evidence then. You have no evidence now. You're unwilling to admit it,'" Kaine insisted to Lake. "'She just told the committee she has no idea whether it's true or false, but she was glad to say it, and she won't retract it now. That should be disqualifying.'"

A fermented food fad is permeating the White House, with some of President Donald Trump's top officials touting its health properties, but onlookers held their noses in disgust.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Vice President JD Vance have all jumped on board the sauerkraut train, reported the Wall Street Journal, which noted they had weighed the resulting sulfurous odors as worth the risk.

The 72-year-old Kennedy was the first to convert to the diet touted by Dr. Sean O’Mara, who urges high-profile patients to eat fermented cabbage and other pickles, along with grass-fed beef, and abstain from alcohol and sugary food to reduce visceral fat and boost their gut microbiome.

Lutnick, 64, and Duffy, 54, have since joined Kennedy, and the 41-year-old Vance took up the diet during Lent and has continued with it.

All of them have commented on the health benefits, including weight loss and glowing skin, but they haven't mentioned the flatulence that's a common reaction to eating sauerkraut, which is high in fiber and is loaded with live probiotics that can produce temporary gas.

"I bet it smell crazy in there," grimaced New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie.

"Oh they do *not* get to ruin sauerkraut for me," groaned science writer Matthew R. Francis.

"Miso, tempeh, blue cheese, fish sauce, gochujang, vinegar, yogurt, kimchi, dosa, Pimenta Moida - fermented foods are great, and I hate that the MAHA morons are on this bandwagon," agreed Bluesky user Charles Xavier Van Damme.

"'Is the king's diaper leaking? No, must be that the courtiers are all eating sauerkraut,'" joked social psychology professor Roger Giner-Sorolla.

"It’s all so grotesque," replied Bluesky user Cynthia Nevil.

"Jesus. Imagine if you had a doctor that talked about his patients this way," cringed writer and video maker David Rheinstrom. "From the article, the MD who recommends this diet: 'I tend to like to work with older people because the ROI is so much greater…. it’s like taking over a sinking ship, a company that is headed to bankruptcy,' O’Mara said."

"Friend was 101st Airborne & talked about some guys who ate kimchi frequently who were not allowed to lead morning runs anymore after gassing the whole squad repeatedly," recalled Bluesky user Jeff (no, the showme showme showme how you do that trick one). "At least they were outside in fresh air though."

"Sauerkraut is great don't let the worst people in the world make you think otherwise," urged writer Marc Normandin.

"Gotta say it’s funny that these people’s ramshackle king has the diet of an 8 year old," laughed attorney Raffi Melkonian.

"I like sauerkraut as much as the next person, but 'swearing by a diet of it' sounds kind of kooky," puzzled economist Patrick Chovanec.

"[Four of the ugliest d---bags you’ve ever seen farting so hard the curtains billow] here’s how to be pretty like us," imagined popular Bluesky user Bum Chillups.

"How is this not 'The Onion?'" wondered Bluesky user Mary Nasca. "Our HHS Secretary thinks sauerkraut has cured his atrial fibrillation."

"This is what I mean when I say RFK should be considered the GOP frontrunner for 2028," opined The Onion owner Ben Collins. "The base needs a non-embarrassing, inheritable cult and Evil Dr. Spaceman over here has the vice president exclusively eating the ingredients to a fart. Nobody else has got that Jim Jones juice."

During an interview with one of the New York Times resident conservative columnists, Vice President JD Vance objected to the characterization that he is at war with Pope Leo XIV.

Donald Trump’s veep has indulged in a heavy media schedule this week as he promotes his book “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith,” where he describes his conversion to Catholicism at the age of 35.

Speaking with fellow Catholic Ross Douthat, a former follower of Protestant Pentecostalism before his own conversion, the conversation took a tenser turn when the columnist brought up the recent war of words between Vance and the pontiff.

“I have to take the opportunity to ask you, after God warned us both against it: How have you ended up as a Catholic convert vice president fighting with the pope about the Iran war?” Douthat asked.

“Because I'm not fighting with the pope, Ross,” Vance shot back, despite having previously stated, "I think it's very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology," which caused a firestorm for the White House for days.

“And if you look at what I said, you know, in public life you say things, and sometimes you make bone-headed comments, and sometimes you say things that are taken totally out of context,” the vice president protested.

“What I said about the pope is, I actually like that he offers his opinions. I actually like that he’s speaking about the issues of the day and that he’s an advocate for peace. But that doesn’t mean that on provincial questions of how to balance these competing principles, you’re always going to have an elected administration that is going to agree,” he continued.

“And I talk about this in the context of immigration policy, and what I write in the book ——,” he added, only to be interrupted with, “Just stick with Iran. In the context of Iran.”

‘Okay,” Vance agreed. “But what I try to do, is I try to accept — you know, you hear people say: Well you can just ignore this or that clergyman. Or: You can just ignore the pope. I’ve never taken that attitude. What I say is the pope is the leader of the church. He is the leader of the institution that preaches the gospel. He’s an important moral voice, but he also does have a different role from the vice president of the United States.”

He added, “My role is for the American people to try to apply moral principles in ways that get the best outcomes, that lead to the best things, and that balance competing interests. And his role, I think, is to preach the Gospel and to offer his opinions on how he thinks we’re doing. And, fundamentally, that will inevitably lead to some conflict.”

- YouTube youtu.be

CNN cut away from Vice President JD Vance mid-briefing Thursday to launch live coverage of the Obama Presidential Center's grand opening.

Vance was at the White House podium fielding questions about the newly signed memorandum of understanding with Iran when anchor Pamela Brown pulled the plug on the briefing.

"Alright. You've been listening to Vice President JD Vance speaking about this memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran, saying that the 60-day negotiating period starts today," Brown said. "We now turn to our special coverage of the opening ceremony of the Obama Presidential Center."

She directed viewers who wanted to keep watching the briefing to CNN All Access via an on-screen QR code.

The network handed off to CNN anchors Wolf Blitzer and Sara Sidner, who were covering the star-studded Chicago ceremony.

"History unfolding right now on the South Side of Chicago," Blitzer said. "Former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama both about to speak on this stage as they unveil the museum and the cultural center that will define their legacy for generations to come."

Sidner, reporting live from Jackson Park, described a scene electric with anticipation.

"There are thousands of people now gathered here," she said, noting the site sits near where Obama launched a career that would see him elected as the nation's first African American president. "The energy here, as high as it gets, and we're just minutes away from the beginning of this ceremony."

Vance had been in the middle of answering a reporter's question about whether the administration planned to brief Congress on the deal's sanctions waivers under the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act.

Salon columnist Heather Digby Parton noted President Donald Trump appeared unusually exhausted at the Group of Seven summit in France, his worn demeanor revealing more about his weakened standing than his Iran agreement.

The 80-year-old president, who stayed late at a White House UFC birthday celebration before traveling to Évian-les-Bains, notably lacked his usual bronze makeup, wrote Parton.

"His energy is notably low, especially for a gathering like this one; meetings with Europeans usually turn him combative and hostile," she added.

Parton characterized Trump as still smarting over Western leaders' refusal to support his Iran war, now promoting his memorandum of understanding as heroic despite effectively losing the conflict.

The new agreement extends a 60-day ceasefire, reopens the Strait of Hormuz, lifts Iranian oil sanctions, and establishes a $300 billion reconstruction fund while deferring nuclear negotiations.

Trump signed the deal at Versailles, where he speculated about adding a hall of mirrors to his planned White House ballroom.

Watch the video below.

Overcompensation is a hell of a thing.

Donald Trump knows he’s not universally beloved or widely respected like Barack Obama and Joe Biden are, and his entire miserable existence is one of constantly trying to make up for everything he wishes he had. Which is why he’s always making things up about himself that he wishes were real.

It’s why he used to call in to talk radio stations in New York pretending to be his own PR person, “John Barron.” No one would say the things about him that he wished were true, so he did it himself. That’s also where his famous “Many people are saying” thing comes from — because no one was actually saying whatever came next. It was the propaganda he wanted to see in the world, because he didn’t see what he really wanted when he looked in the mirror.

Over the last 11 years, we’ve watched him use the techniques he learned from his dual Daddy Replacements, Roy Cohn and Vladimir Putin. They taught him how to talk about himself like the person he wanted to be, not the loser he was. They taught him to keep repeating the same lies over and over until everyone believed them. There was a point where Trump crossed the Rubicon from knowing he was lying to not caring that he was lying, and then he learned how to use blackmail to compromise his former critics, and here we are.

Trump knows he isn’t respected on the global stage, unlike his two Democratic predecessors, as evidenced by the way he’s behaved and has been treated at the G7 summit this week. Every other world leader has represented like the adults they are, while Trump, fresh from his lame birthday party slapfest that barely made a blip in the TV ratings, was sluggish, hoarse, and seemed fully lost every time the cameras were on him.

It’s just so embarrassing. Look how weak he is. Listen to how weak he sounds. No wonder he railed against Barack Obama every chance he got, just days after a UFC fighter yelled out, “Michelle Obama is a man!” after thanking Jesus for helping him win his not-at-all-gay all-male slapfest in a cage while wearing the smallest and not-at-all-gay white booty shorts.

Trump calling Barack Obama a “son of a b---h” at the G7 is the kind of pettiness we've come to expect from the pettiest PAB in history.

The false bravado posturing is all part of the show for MAGA. Bullying is weakness, not strength. Bullying is rooted in jealousy, growing out of the low self-esteem that all bullies feel, yet can’t quite name. They can’t stand to see anyone they’ve deemed as “less than” succeed, and they also can’t possibly ever be wrong on the internet. It’s honestly impressive that they can even hold their phones with those heavy chips on their shoulders.

Trump’s obsession with the Obamas is similar to his obsession with the Bidens, because he knows they’re beloved and respected on the world stage. Except it’s worse with the Obamas, because they set off every racist trigger he’s got under his thin skin.

MAGA loves it, because they’ve been allowed to be free-range racists for the last 11 years, along with all of the other “-isms” and “-phobias” they deny having. Their fixation with the Obamas long predates Trump’s own assault on our political norms. An early proponent of Twitter, the petty, short-fingered vulgarian was at the forefront of the birtherism BS, demanding Barack Obama’s “longform birth certificate” and always emphasizing that the President’s middle name is Hussein.

That’s just one racist trope Trump and MAGA still use, along with misgendering Michelle out of pure jealousy and spite. Michelle and Melania have nothing in common other than having the same first initials and the title of first lady. But only one has behaved like an actual lady in public, and it’s not the former nude model whom Trump met thanks to his pal Jeffrey Epstein.

Trump is also fixated on the Obamas’ shared track record of success, both in and out of the White House. He hates always being compared to a Black man and coming up short, literally. Shoelifts McCankles can’t hoist himself out of a chair by himself these days, another reason why he’s jealous of Barack and his basketball skills.

Conversely, the Obama Presidential Library is opening to the public in his hometown of Chicago, and this video of the Best First Couple EVER has gone viral for simply showcasing their connection and real love for each other.

MAGA doesn’t have a happily married First Couple or a tight-knit, loving first family to emulate. Both Presidents Obama and Biden are fantastic fathers who have set the standard for being supportive parents while living under the world’s biggest microscope. MAGA can’t stand their goodness, because none of them had a good example of parenting in their own homes.

They compare the Obamas to apes and won’t leave Hunter Biden alone. Since every accusation is a confession in Trumpworld, MAGA fabricated false accusations about President Biden abusing his daughter, Ashley, with Project Veritas going as far as creating fake entries in her stolen diary. Because Trump is in the Epstein Files and used to brag about wanting to date his preferred daughter, Ivanka.

MAGA is boosting a clearly weakened Trump at a time when we’ve learned his entire staff is involved in the Epstein Files cover-up. They got mad when Michelle Obama planted a vegetable garden, but are still making excuses for Trump's Epstein connection while celebrating the vulgar destruction of our White House.

All because Trump’s racist parents taught him how to be a terrible person instead of just loving him. All because he’s in the Epstein Files. All because Trump is jealous of a Black man with whom he can never truly compete.

And he knows it.

Overcompensation is a hell of a thing.

A conservative commentator unloaded on a former Trump-endorsed congressional candidate, branding him "an absolute narcissistic sleaze" after a sex scandal torpedoed his bid for office.

Daily Wire contributor Carly Bird, a Republican strategist and former national spokeswoman for Ron DeSantis's presidential campaign, took to X to rip Oklahoma megachurch pastor Jackson Lahmeyer, who founded the Pastors for Trump group.

She accused him of staying in the race because he thought he could "get away with it," denying the allegations, then quitting and — by her account — giving an interview to the Daily Mail. "Gross," she added.

"Jackson Lahmeyer (he deleted his account) is an absolute narcissistic sleaze," Bird railed on X.

On Thursday, the Mail reported Lahmeyer fessed up that he had "kissed" the woman and "had an affair on my wife." He insisted that the two did "not have sex during this election."

When pressed on whether he was admitting he had sex with the woman in 2022, he simply replied, "In 2022 I cheated on my wife."

Lahmeyer's campaign for Oklahoma's 1st Congressional District imploded this week after the Daily Mail published reports detailing flirtatious text messages he allegedly exchanged with Caitlin Simmons Key, a former Miss Oklahoma USA who worked as a fundraiser on his campaign. In a statement, he said he owned "crossing a boundary line through text messaging" and had "ended all communication," while dismissing the Daily Mail's reporting as a "distorted" and "cherry-picked" story by a "British Tabloid."

Despite the scandal, Lahmeyer advanced to a Republican runoff on Tuesday, finishing second. The next day, President Donald Trump — who had praised the pastor as a "MAGA warrior" — yanked his endorsement and backed rival Mark Tedford. Lahmeyer suspended his campaign shortly after, saying he did not want to be "a distraction to my family, my church" and his district. Tedford now becomes the GOP nominee.

President Donald Trump joked that Vice President JD Vance would shoulder the blame if his Iran peace deal doesn't work out, but Republicans are already projecting their dissatisfaction with the agreement onto him.

The 80-year-old president returned to Washington, D.C., after meeting with world leaders in France and signing the memorandum of understanding at the Palace of Versailles, and Politico's Playbook reported that oil industry insiders and GOP lawmakers aren't happy with the terms.

"Plenty of Republican lawmakers are also uncomfortable, in private at least," Playbook reported. "The economic support being offered to the regime is very unpopular, and few will have enjoyed watching Trump defend Iran’s right to ballistic missiles on live TV. (Marco Rubio said depleting missile stocks was a core aim of the war, remember.)"

"One Hill Republican told POLITICO’s Inside Congress the deal represents 'total surrender,”' the report added. "But in public, most Republicans are biting their tongues, ultimately relieved the war is ending with more than four months before the midterms."

Trump jokingly told reporters that he was setting up his 41-year-old vice president as the scapegoat, just in case the deal goes sideways.

“If it works out, I’m going to take the credit. If it doesn’t work out, I’m blaming JD,” Trump said Wednesday at a press conference at the G7 summit near Geneva. “You better be careful, JD. He’s going to turn his plane around and get the hell out of here.”

That already seems to be happening behind the scenes, according to Playbook.

"Republicans reluctant to criticize Trump directly are seeking to pin the blame on VP JD Vance instead," the outlet reported. "But here’s the thing: Vance world is relaxed at the prospect of this being framed as the 'Vance Peace Deal,' Dasha [Burns] reports on today’s Playbook Podcast, given the broad unpopularity of the war."

White House officials seemed to agree that cutting a deal with Iran was the best political move available, and Vance's willingness to be the frontman for that reflects that view.

"Without question, the biggest potential political liability Vance had was the unpopularity of the war in Iran,” said one person close to the White House. “So it’s fascinating to watch his biggest enemies in the GOP unwittingly inoculate him from that liability by branding him as responsible for the peace deal.”

"He now gets to do a media tour defending the president — AKA the kingmaker of our party — from their idiotic criticism of the deal,” the person added. “While even his critics would acknowledge that the vice president is a smart guy, sometimes what really matters in politics is how stupid your enemies are.”

President Donald Trump has a habit of punishing Republicans who tell him no, and his standoff with his party's Senate majority leader may cost him the most.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, has delivered a string of unwelcome answers to the president — rejecting Trump's demands to fire the Senate parliamentarian, kill the legislative filibuster, and pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, a voter ID bill that lacks the votes to move forward.

On Wednesday, Trump escalated, posting on Truth Social at 3:54 a.m. to torpedo a bipartisan deal Thune had spent weeks building — linking reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to the voter ID bill that has already failed repeatedly in the chamber.

"Good question," Thune told reporters when asked why Trump would pull the rug out from under him.

Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate majority, but the filibuster requires 60 votes to advance most legislation — a threshold Trump's voter ID push has never come close to clearing. One Republican senator warned that moving against Thune publicly "would trigger a revolt from members" — the kind of rupture that could cost Trump Senate votes he cannot spare heading into the midterms.

Trump has been down this road before. He ousted five Indiana state senators who defied his redistricting push and endorsed primary challengers against Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana after they broke with him.

He also declared Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina "a loser" after Tillis threatened to oppose his next attorney general pick.

"The problem is the president doesn't like hearing that when it frustrates what he wants to do," Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said of Thune's approach.

It would not be the first time Trump trained his fire on Thune. In December 2020, after Thune said efforts to reject the election results "would go down like a shot dog," Trump branded him a "RINO" and threatened, "He will be primaried in 2022, political career over!!!" Thune won reelection that year with nearly 70% of the vote.

For now, Trump has kept his frustration private. But Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) offered a blunt assessment of where things stand on the voter ID bill at the center of the standoff.

"I mean, I want a Porsche for my birthday," Kennedy said. "I'm not going to get it."

A candid admission from a high-ranking NBCUniversal executive that Comcast's multi-million dollar contribution to President Trump's ballroom project was merely the "cost of doing business" sparked outrage among journalists at a company retreat this week.

According to media watchdog Status, NBC-owned stations' news directors and NBC News investigative reporters gathered for a network training day ahead of the 2026 Investigative Reporters & Editors conference in National Harbor, Maryland.

During that gathering, Anzio Williams, executive vice president of talent, strategic initiatives and team impact at NBCU Local, defended Comcast's seven-figure bankrolling of Trump's ballroom as a necessary price "to facilitate the company’s ability to continue producing journalism," Natalie Korach wrote.

According to attendees, Williams said: "If we have to name a ride after him at Universal Studios, that's fine too, as long as it means they leave us alone."

The comment landed like a bombshell, Status is reporting. Journalists in the room immediately expressed displeasure to NBC management, describing the remarks as a "gut punch," according to one attendee.

In a statement to Status, Williams disputed the characterization of his remarks, claiming: "I was lauding our company for giving us journalistic independence and not interfering in our work. I noted our parent company has a lot of interests and followed up to share that they make donations across the spectrum, but our journalism is never influenced or impacted."

An NBCUniversal spokesperson declined to back up the explanation.

The episode reignited controversy over Comcast's decision to bankroll Trump's ballroom project—a decision that sparked fury when first revealed. Several MS NOW hosts publicly rebuked their own corporate parent on air before the network was spun out of Comcast's portfolio as part of Versant, Status is reporting.

"Those public-facing companies should know there's a cost in terms of their reputation with the American people," Rachel Maddow said at the time, with Lawrence O'Donnell adding: "Comcast is committed to nothing but Comcast."

President Donald Trump publicly congratulated himself for the memorandum of understanding to end his war in Iran.

The president signed the agreement Wednesday to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping and pause hostilities for 60 days while details are negotiated on Iran's nuclear program, and just hours later, Trump claimed in an all-caps social media post that the benefits were already flowing.

"Oil is flowing, Iran can never have a nuclear weapon (the world will be safe!), the stock markets are roaring, jobs are at records, and prices are dropping (affordability!)," Trump posted, suggesting that all the problems blamed on his war have been immediately solved.

Shipping has resumed in the strait, and U.S. stock markets rebounded Thursday morning as oil prices came down, but the agreement's impact on the job market and consumer prices might take longer to be felt, and the nuclear issue has still not been fully resolved.

"Our country is strong, safe, and respected like never before," Trump boasted. "'You're welcome!'"

Overnight, Trump blasted his critics – including many Republicans – who cast doubt on the details of his memorandum.

"These fools, who think I haven’t been tough enough on Iran, when the Stock Market Just Hit A RECORD HIGH, and Oil prices are 'tumbling' down, are either jealous, bad people, or stupid," Trump posted. "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!"

A veteran Washington reporter said Wednesday he'd "bet everybody's farm" that Congress will launch an investigation into Stephen Miller by week's end.

Scott MacFarlane made the prediction during a panel on MS NOW. The MeidasTouch Network's chief Washington correspondent was reacting to New York Times reporting on secret White House memos showing Miller had pushed to suspend habeas corpus rights for undocumented immigrants.

"By the end of the week, Congress launches an investigation that would go right to the White House," MacFarlane said. "This is not the Department of Justice. This is the White House. This is a report about Stephen Miller, so you could bank on that."

The Times report, bylined by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, revealed that Miller — President Donald Trump's deputy chief of staff for policy — proposed stripping undocumented immigrants of the centuries-old right in order to accelerate deportations after courts kept blocking the administration's efforts.

Habeas corpus — older than the United States itself, rooted in the Magna Carta — is the foundational legal right that forces the government to justify, before a judge, why it has locked someone up.

A confidential memo dated April 29, 2025, written by White House staff secretary Will Scharf, warned Chief of Staff Susie Wiles that the move would almost certainly be struck down. Its subject line: "THE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS."

Scharf wrote that the Constitution permits suspension only in cases of rebellion or invasion — and that courts have almost uniformly held that only Congress can do it.

Miller told reporters the suspension was "…an option we are actively looking at," insisting the border qualified as an invasion.

The proposal eventually faded — but the Times reported it was never fully abandoned.

MacFarlane, a former CBS News justice correspondent who covered more than 1,500 Jan. 6 prosecutions, also disclosed he had spoken with Sen. Tom Tillis (R-NC) minutes before the broadcast. Tillis, a pivotal Senate Judiciary Committee vote on acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's confirmation, told MacFarlane he had no Jan. 6 concerns — but the "Anti-Weaponization Fund" was another matter.

"That slush fund is not going over well," MacFarlane said.

Blanche's confirmation hearings are set for July.

CNN's Harry Enten presented fresh polling data measuring public opinion on President Donald Trump's war in Iran.

The 80-year-old president signed a memorandum of understanding Wednesday to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial traffic and pause fighting for 60 days while negotiating the terms of a final deal on nuclear weapons, and Enten said Americans will likely wonder why he launched the war in the first place.

"Yeah, I think the American people are going, what was the point of all of that?" Enten said. "What was the point of all that? Because the American people hate it, and the way you can know that they hate it, just take a look. Trump's net approval ratings hit lows for Fox News and Fox polls. In May, he had his lowest-ever rating at minus-22 points. You come into the poll that was released last night, the second-lowest ever, one point better at minus-21 points, way underwater, and with independents."

"I know you love when I point out the independents – 55 points underwater," Enten added. "I mean, my goodness gracious. This was a political disaster. No wonder the president wants to move on from it."

Trump admitted that he feared becoming Herbert Hoover and being saddled with a global depression, and Enten said those concerns were justified.

"You mentioned Herbert Hoover, the economy, right?" he said. "That sunk his presidency, inflation is what is sinking Donald Trump's presidency to all-time lows, at least according to Fox, because just take a look here, look at Ipsos polling. Trump's approval rating on inflation pre-war – it was bad, right? It was 33 points underwater. But then look in the past month, the average, according to the Ipsos polling, look at that – 51 points underwater. There was no president ever before that had any poll in which he was 50 points underwater on inflation or worse, and the average of the Ipsos polling over the last month was 51 points underwater on inflation. The Iran war absolutely drove Trump to new lows on the issue that got him re-elected in the first place, inflation."

Enten looked at past presidents to get a sense of where public opinion would stand now that the Iran war appears to be over.

"Just take a look at this, [Joe] Biden, right, the Afghanistan withdrawal days," Enten said. "Biden had a negative net approval rating post-Afghanistan, Afghanistan withdrawal, all of them. His presidency was simply put, sunk by it. Now, I'm not saying that's necessarily what's going to happen with Donald Trump, but it is an ominous potential signal for him when, in fact, you have getting out of a situation the American people don't like."

- YouTube youtu.be

The Supreme Court handed the Trump administration a unanimous loss Thursday, ruling that a 1968 law barring drug users from owning firearms cannot be used to prosecute a Texas marijuana user — a rare rebuke that also resurrects the ghost of Hunter Biden.

The justices sided with Ali Danial Hemani, who argued the prohibition violated his Second Amendment rights. Hemani had not been charged with any other crime and was not accused of using the weapon while under the influence.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the court, stressed that the decision was a limited one.

"The Court's decision is narrow," he wrote, adding that it did not address whether Congress could ban addicts or intoxicated people from possessing firearms.

Gorsuch was blunt about the government's case. The administration's argument, he wrote, "fails under every measure it asks us to consider: The historical laws on which it relies targeted different kinds of people, did so for different reasons, and operated in different ways," according to MS NOW.

The ruling is a striking setback for President Donald Trump's Justice Department, which had defended the decades-old statute even as the administration has fought other gun restrictions in court. The Trump administration, NBC News noted, has cast itself as a fierce Second Amendment defender, frustrating gun-rights advocates who watched it line up behind the prosecution.

The same statute drove the criminal case against Hunter Biden, who was convicted in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, of buying a Colt revolver in 2018 while addicted to crack cocaine. His father, then-President Joe Biden, pardoned him in December 2024.

About half of U.S. states have legalized marijuana broadly, though recreational use remains a federal crime. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed an order in April reclassifying state-licensed medical marijuana as a less-dangerous drug, adding another layer of tension to the Justice Department's defense of the gun ban.

The ACLU and the National Rifle Association both backed Hemani, joined by cannabis legalization advocates at NORML. Gun safety groups like Everytown, which typically oppose the administration on Second Amendment questions, lined up on the other side.

The opinion is the latest in a wave of firearms decisions triggered by the court's landmark 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which broadly expanded gun rights. Since then, the justices have upheld a law protecting domestic violence victims and restrictions on ghost gun kits, while striking down a federal ban on bump stocks.

While Donald Trump is being excoriated by Republicans over his Iran deal, which one GOP lawmaker called “… a tremendous foreign policy blunder,” MS NOW’s Bill Rohde stated on Thursday morning that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth can expect that his role in advising the president to launch the war has put his job at risk.

Discussing the blowback Trump is facing over the war that, for the moment, has ended in a stalemate, Rohde claimed that Hegseth is already a prime target instead since he is already on the outs with a substantial number of Republican lawmakers.

“At some point. President Trump is the person most responsible for this strategic defeat and failure,” Rohde told the "Morning Joe” co-hosts. “But I would argue the person second most responsible, who is in the most dangerous position politically, is Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. He repeatedly lied to the American public in his press conferences about the progress of the war, and he also refused to give basic information to members of Congress. There's a lot of ill will among senators and House members towards Pete Hegseth.”

Quoting Hegseth asserting “The aftermath of this is going to be in our interest,” Rohde asked, “Did he warn the president about the Strait of Hormuz before this war? Was he honest with the American public? And to the 50,000 Americans who risked their lives in the 13 soldiers who died? You know, his performance is just something that has to be looked at.”

Co-host Willie Geist added, “We haven't seen the defense secretary in public much since those podium-banging news briefings that he would give every week, where he would lecture the media about how to cover the war, what was actually happening, and from all the reporting that he would show the president of the United States an iPad with things blowing up to show that they were doing well. It turns out this is a much, much more complicated problem than can be solved by blowing things up.”

- YouTube youtu.be

Jackson Lahmeyer, the candidate previously backed by President Donald Trump in Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District, dropped out of the race one day after advancing to a runoff in the GOP primary.

NOTUS first reported earlier Wednesday that he was expected to drop out of the race.

“After prayerful consideration with my wife, Kendra, and my team over the last twenty four hours, I’ve made the difficult decision to suspend my campaign for Congress,” Lahmeyer said in a statement.

“I do not want to be a distraction to my family, my church, and the great people of Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District, who deserve a strong conservative voice representing them in Washington,” he continued.

Following publication of the NOTUS story that Lahmeyer was expected to leave the race, Trump posted on Truth Social that he would be withdrawing his endorsement of Lahmeyer and endorsing state Rep. Mark Tedford, who advanced to the runoff alongside Lahmeyer.

The runoff set for Aug. 25 is to fill a seat being vacated by Republican Kevin Hern, who is running for Senate.

Lahmeyer made the move after the Daily Mail published text messages purported to show that he was flirting with a woman who is not his wife

Lahmeyer did not respond to a text and call seeking comment.

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) got a shot in the arm for his campaign this week, as he picked up a surprising endorsement from a conservative talk radio host.

Shelley Wynter, a prominent Black conservative radio personality, was a significant backer of right-wing Gov. Brian Kemp in 2022. This time, however, he is crossing the aisle, according to Patricia Murphy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

"I'm here to tell you live on the radio that I am Team Ossoff for the rest of the summer, and I will do everything I can possible on this show to get you re-elected," said Wynter. "I see re-elections as a job interview, and in my humble opinion, I've seen nothing from Senator Jon Ossoff that requires me to say you're fired from the job. So you've got my support. I endorse you."

He went on to add that, "Everything I'm hearing, everything you're doing, everything you've done, I agree with. I have some minor disagreements on some smaller issues, but on the big things, I'm on your team."

Ossoff, who flipped his seat in a 2021 runoff, is the only Democratic senator seeking reelection in a state Trump carried in 2024, making Georgia a top GOP target. He faces Republican Rep. Mike Collins, who won the June 16 primary runoff after a late Trump endorsement.

President Donald Trump is only seeing the backlash mount from his own party against the Iran agreement he signed to end the war largely on Iran's terms, CNN's John Berman reported on Thursday morning.

Trump, said Berman, is facing "a lot" of anger from conservatives — and the long list of social media posts put up on the display behind him, he added, is "just a smattering" of what they are saying about him.

Among the posts quoted by Berman are conservative commentator Pradheep Shanker, who said Trump "caved and surrendered"; national security commentator David Reaboi, who said "It's even worse than the Obama deal back then"; conservative columnist Marc Thiessen, who said it's like "offering the Marshall Plan to rebuild Germany while the Nazis were still in power"; and right-wing analyst Batya Ungar-Sargon, who said, "The greatest superpower to ever exist, brought to its knees by a few minds."

Meanwhile, said Berman, Republican lawmakers are striking a similar tone — and he played several clips.

"This will go down as a tremendous foreign policy blunder. Iran ends up stronger," said Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA).

"Now, I don't want to see theocratic Islamists who want to kill us made stronger," said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). "So if this deal is giving them $300 billion, that's a mistake."

"They're better off than they were before the hostilities began," said former Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC). "And that should not be the consequence of war."

Trump, noted Berman, is already feeling the heat — and lashed out at the critics overnight on Truth Social, calling them "fools" who are "jealous" of his success.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

President Donald Trump admitted that he was motivated to end his war in Iran to prevent a global depression, and CNN's John Berman was flabbergasted by one particular aspect of those remarks.

The president signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran to wind down the war he launched Feb. 28, which disrupted global trade, rattled markets and sent fuel costs soaring, and he told reporters that he feared being saddled with a depression.

"So rather than possibly going into a depression, rather than having your favorite president be Herbert Hoover, he was always the one I didn't want to be," Trump said, referring to the 31st president whose policies are often blamed for leading to the Great Depression. "I didn't want to see economic catastrophe."

CNN's David Goldman reported on the 80-year-old president's remarks.

"Herbert Hoover, that's not a comparison that you want to be making," Goldman said. "It's kind of an interesting acknowledgment, right, that the economic power that Iran had was really weighing on not just the U.S. economy, but the global economy, and when he's talking about economic catastrophe, I mean, that might be hyperbole, but it also shows that getting into a war like this, you never know what's going to happen."

Immediately upon signing the agreement at the Palace of Versailles in France, Trump said – accompanied by up-down hand gestures – that he hoped fuel costs would go down and the stock market would go up, and Berman reacted with surprise to Trump's statements on his desire to end the conflict.

"It's absolutely an admission of the leverage that Iran had," Berman said. "It was stunning to hear him say that quite so explicitly."

- YouTube youtu.be

Republican Warren Petersen vowed to help the Trump administration deport the more than 18,000 Arizonans who were brought to America as children and have federal protection if voters in November make him Arizona’s next attorney general.

In a terse exchange on social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, Petersen and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes traded jabs over the legality of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

“Here is some free legal advice to our sitting AG. DACA is found nowhere in the Constitution,” Petersen wrote, responding to video footage Mayes shared on social media in which she pledged to continue defending the rights of DACA recipients in court.

The Obama-era policy gives nearly 500,000 people who were brought to the country as minors a reprieve from deportation for two years at a time and allows them to apply for a work permit. According to a June report from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, 18,450 DACA recipients call Arizona home.

Petersen called DACA recipients “illegals” and said he would work with the federal government to deport anyone in the country without authorization, including people who arrived as children.

“I will keep our border secure and will work with the federal government to deport everyone who enters this country illegally,” he wrote. “We welcome everyone who comes here legally and abides by the law. But be ready to be deported or prosecuted if you don’t.”

DACA recipients, commonly referred to as Dreamers, have temporary legal status under the program.

Mayes fired back in her own post on X, saying that Petersen’s stance shows that he isn’t qualified to be attorney general.

“News flash Warren: DACA recipients are police officers, firefighters, nurses and small business owners in Arizona. And you just announced to the world that you think they are criminals and should be deported. Disqualifying,” Mayes wrote.

Petersen, who has long claimed to support legal immigrants, pointed out that the 2012 program isn’t enshrined in the U.S. Constitution as proof that it isn’t valid. Only naturalization, under which people become citizens automatically at birth or through a process set by Congress, is addressed in the Constitution. All other forms of legal authorization for immigrants are determined by Congress or the federal government.

DACA was created through an executive action from former President Barack Obama as a way to provide protections amid decades of congressional gridlock on the issue.

If elected, Petersen would have the power to mobilize the state’s top prosecutorial office to attack the program. Mayes, who is seeking reelection, has joined litigation that advocates for the preservation of DACA. In February 2024, the Democrat and 22 other attorneys general filed an amicus brief with a federal appeals court urging it to keep the program in place. And in January 2025, Mayes moved to intervene in a case that sought to bar DACA recipients from purchasing health insurance through the Affordable Care Marketplace.

Also at stake would be legal stances on other actions taken by the Trump administration. The first lawsuit against Trump that Mayes joined was an effort to oppose the U.S. Justice Department’s bid to strip the children of immigrants of birthright citizenship.

Petersen didn’t respond to a question about whether he agrees with the Trump administration’s interpretation of the 14th Amendment, which has guaranteed citizenship for anyone born on U.S. soil regardless of their parent’s citizenship for more than a century and a half.

Rodney Glassman, who is facing off against Petersen in the Republican primary, didn’t respond to a request for comment on what his stance is on the DACA program and whether he, too, would support federal efforts to deport recipients.

Despite long enjoying bipartisan support, DACA has in recent years faced increasing opposition from the Republican Party, which has staked out an uncompromising anti-immigrant stance and made mass deportations a key pillar in its agenda.

But public opinion of the program, and of Dreamers, remains positive. A 2023 survey found that, even amid litigation launched by Republican-led states aimed at terminating the program, a majority of voters across the political spectrum would prefer to keep DACA in place. A 2025 Gallup poll found that the percentage of Americans who support offering a pathway to citizenship to immigrants who meet certain requirements and have lived in the country over a set period of time has increased from 70% in 2024 to 78% in 2025. And support is even higher for Dreamers: a whopping 85% of Americans believe immigrants brought to the country as children should be given a chance to apply for citizenship.

Public support for people who arrived in the U.S. as children is apparent even in Arizona, where voters agreed to give undocumented students the same ability as their peers to pay in-state tuition. In 2022, 51% of voters agreed that forcing undocumented students to pay nearly twice as much in tuition was unfair and cast their ballots in favor of Proposition 308. The campaign behind the ballot measure announced afterwards that it earned support from across the political divide, including from 54% of independents and 27% of voters who identified as Republican.

Democrats lambasted Petersen for attacking DACA recipients. Charlene Fernandez, the chair of the Arizona Democratic Party, accused Petersen of fearmongering and warned that his words would ripple through the state’s Latino and immigrant communities.

“Warren Petersen is promising a new era of fear, targeting young people who have spent their lives in our communities,” she said in a written statement. “He’s talking about using government power against people who grew up here, went to school here, and call Arizona home. That’s not leadership — it’s fearmongering.”

DACA recipients are already facing detainment and deportation, despite the legal shield promised to them by the program, which has strict eligibility requirements and a rolling two-year renewal process. Within the first nine months of Trump’s second term, 270 DACA recipients were arrested by immigration officials and as many as 174 were eventually deported. Critics fear that a failure to reelect Mayes could lead to a worse outlook for Dreamers living in Arizona.

Delaney Corcoran, Mayes’ campaign manager, likened Petersen to former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who infamously oversaw an era of racially motivated policing, and said that Mayes would protect constitutional rights. Petersen was recently endorsed by Arpaio.

“When Petersen tells Dreamers to prepare for prosecution and deportation, he’s telling Arizonans to prepare for a term of terrorization and family separation,” Corcoran said. “He’s basically promising to be an AG in the style of Arpaio. This is a serious threat to tens of thousands of Arizonans and their loved ones.”

Senators from both parties are accusing President Donald Trump of secretly tapping government funds for his White House ballroom after Congress refused to write him a check.

The White House Office of Management and Budget quietly moved $352 million last week from a Secret Service fund — money the law restricts to personnel, training, programming, and technology — and labeled it "White House Security Measures."

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle suspect it is headed straight for the ballroom.

Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill, which supplied the cash, bars the use of those funds for construction. That has not stopped the suspicion from building.

"That's a big problem," Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) told NOTUS. "On its face it doesn't sound right."

"I don't know whether it's the ballroom, but it sounds like the ballroom," added Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), a senior appropriator.

"I think there's been more and more credible coverage that President Trump was just flat out lying when he said the taxpayers will not pay a dime for his ballroom," Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) said. "I think he is now trying to find ways to funnel public money into it."

Trump spent more than a year insisting the project was "taxpayer-free."

As recently as March 31, he told reporters in the Oval Office, "We have no taxpayer putting up 10 cents" — weeks after The Washington Post reported that contractor Clark Construction had already handed the White House a $600 million cost estimate showing that more than half the tab would fall on the public.

Congress tried and failed to pass $1 billion in direct funding for ballroom security earlier this year. When that collapsed, the White House found a new pool of money — and an OMB official raised the ballroom unprompted when asked to explain the transfer.

Senators said they are demanding more details about exactly where the $352 million will go.

A grass-roots movement and sympathetic Chicago aldermen are pushing to rename the street in front of Trump International Hotel and Tower on Wabash Avenue to "Barack Hussein Obama Way"—a pointed potshot aimed at the controversial president.

According to USA Today and Chicago Tribune reporting, the push comes from a Change.org petition (which can be found here) that has garnered more than 22,000 signatures as of June 16, combined with ordinances proposed Wednesday by Chicago aldermen who oppose Trump's policies and leadership.

According to the petition, "We propose a tribute to a figure who stands for hope and change, Barack Hussein Obama. By renaming Wabash Ave in Chicago to Barack Hussein Obama Ave, we would honor him at the time of his presidential center's opening. This move resonates with hope and progress, uniting us in the pursuit of a brighter tomorrow."

"This would send a small message about the values we uphold as a city, those of inclusivity, resilience, and forward-thinking change, and fighting back in any way possible," the Change.org petition added.

However, the effort faces a significant legal hurdle, the Tribune is reporting. Renaming a street requires approval from Chicago's City Council. Additionally, living people are not eligible for honorary street names that display brown signs over the standard green street signs, according to Block Club Chicago reporting.

Block Club reported, Ald. Brendan Reilly is leading the charge, stating, "The spirit of this is really to recognize Obama,” while Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson told reporters on Wednesday, "I’m glad that the alderman put it forward, and we’ll have the debate, but there certainly is no debate to the exceptional leadership of President Obama.”

A Fox Business segment on Thursday morning devolved into shouting as anchor Maria Bartiromo tried to talk over the objections of Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) to certain provisions of the SAVE America Act, the controversial Trump-backed legislation that would put extreme new restrictions on voting rights and effectively give the Department of Homeland Security oversight of state voting rolls.

Khanna focused on the fact that under the terms of the law, married women who had legal name changes would face significant obstacles to voting because they can't use the name on their birth certificate to verify their citizenship — but Bartiromo, who is known for embracing conspiracy theories on air, didn't see any issue with this.

"Elections have been lost by a couple of votes," said Bartiromo heatedly. "So just to say, oh, [the fraud is] not a lot, that's not an answer, sir."

"But people have been fearmongering that when it's not an issue in the election, and the reality is you have cases of people who are married, you want them if they've changed their name to have to prove with their birth certificate?" said Khanna.

"What's the problem?" Bartiromo said, talking over him. "Yes. Get your birth certificate. You can't vote if you're not an American citizen."

The SAVE America Act has no path to passage in the Senate, where it cannot overcome the 60-vote cloture threshold to defeat a Democratic filibuster.

Trump has spent months demanding Republicans either tack the bill onto some other must-pass measure or do away with the filibuster entirely to get it through, neither of which has support from the Senate GOP. The disagreement has caused a growing rift between Trump and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD).

Privately, a number of Republicans are sick of debating the legislation and want Trump to let them move on from it.

President Donald Trump signed a memorandum of understanding to end the war in Iran, and critics couldn't help but notice the historic symbolism around it.

The 80-year-old president signed the agreement at the Palace of Versailles, the historic setting of the 1919 treaty that ended World War I, after enjoying a lobster and caviar feast with French President Emmanuel Macron.

“It’s signed, yeah,” Trump told reporters as he left the dinner. “I signed it in Versailles.”

The terms of Trump's agreement to end his war in Iran have been criticized by Democrats and Republicans alike, and social media users highlighted the similarities between that deal and the Treaty of Versailles that Germany signed under protest, which ultimately destabilized its government and led to the rise of Adolf Hitler

"Yes, a treaty of Versailles should do the trick," cracked writer David Noll.

"I dunno, but signing a peace agreement in Versailles, of all places, strikes me as rather strange," noted Austrian economist Dominika Langenmayr. "I guess that the Treaty of Versailles (the 1919 one) isn't discussed too much in U.S. high schools?"

"Can you think of another famous treaty that was signed in Versailles in 1919?" asked The Blaze's David Krayden. "What happened as a result of that document? I know Trump wishes he could go back in time a few months and that this war never happened."

"The irony is NOT LOST on Macron," speculated Bluesky user BonFire. "Of course this demented idiot would have NO CLUE."

"'The Treaty of Versailles formalized the humiliating defeat of a great power' remains true," opined political theorist Jacob T. Levy.

"Undeniably good optics: signing a war treaty in Versailles," laughed podcaster Robert Evans. "It would be funny if OUR treaty of Versailles lead to the destruction of a fascist political party instead of its creation. I want that for us."

"This is the dumbest possible ending to the dumbest possible war," sighed science advocate Cole Donovan. "I honestly don't know why Iran didn't ask for ponies, they basically got everything else."

"He knows he’s heard of something from history called the Treaty of Versailles, so he thinks this is cool as hell," posited journalist Gillian Brockell.

"He signed an unconditional surrender at Versailles?" added historian Kevin Kruse. "Come the f--- on."