Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap, the pro-Trump official in charge of election administration in one of America's largest swing-state counties, got a blistering loss in state court on Thursday, as a panel of appellate judges blocked his sweeping election order against the Board of Supervisors.

Among other things, Heap ordered the board to hand over a trove of election equipment and resources they were withholding from his office, and make a number of changes to the process for approving polling places, including stripping the board of the power to approve new drop box sites without his consent under penalty of felony.

In the order, the judges ruled that the supervisors are likely to prevail against Heap on the merits.

Furthermore, they argued that the "Purcell" principle prohibited the lower court from intervening on Heap's behalf in a way that is likely to substantially change election rules this close to voting.

"Courts are reluctant to order last-minute changes in election rules and procedures because they can burden election workers and complicate and create confusion in the voting experience," said the judges. "We see merit in the Board’s and Purcell’s argument and conclude that the injunction is very likely to be vacated on Purcell grounds."

All of this comes as senior Trump White House aide Stephen Miller seeks to intervene in Arizona elections, which even Heap himself has asked courts to stop.

Former first lady Michelle Obama delivered pointed jabs at President Donald Trump during the Obama Presidential Center grand opening in Chicago Thursday.

Describing her husband as consistently unflappable at every turn, she said.

"Always focused, always calm, always looking at the long view."

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

The crowd erupted in applause.

She concluded with a dig at Trump, noting Obama accomplished something he has not: winning a Nobel Peace Prize.

The remarks came days after a MAGA UFC fighter attacked Michelle at Trump's White House birthday celebration.

Her speech highlighted character differences between the former and current presidents during the ceremonial dedication of the Obama Presidential Center.

Watch the video below.

Political analyst Steve Schmidt said the fallout from President Donald Trump's botched Iran war could haunt America for generations in the latest episode of his show, "The Warning," on YouTube.

Schmidt started by praising Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who called the Trump administration's Iran peace deal a disaster. "This will go down as a tremendous foreign policy blunder," Cassidy said. "Iran ends up stronger, our allies in the region are weaker."

Schmidt, a former Republican strategist, agreed, pulling no punches in his assessment of how the war was managed — and placing much of the blame squarely on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

"Pete Hegseth lost the war," Schmidt said bluntly. "He has wrecked the military, hollowed out its integrity, defiled it, and lost a war."

Perhaps most damning is the whiplash over Iran's missiles, Schmidt noted. The Trump administration once promised to destroy Iran's missile program entirely. Now, Trump himself is arguing Iran deserves to keep them. "Missiles aren't the problem," Trump said. "They hurt a little, but they don't blow up the planet."

Schmidt wasn't buying it. He pointed out that Trump spent roughly $80 billion fighting Iran only to turn around and offer the country $300 billion in reconstruction aid, a reversal that Schmidt compared unfavorably to the Obama-era Iran deal Trump once ridiculed.

The political damage appears to be piling up, Schmidt concluded. Recent Fox News polling puts Trump's net approval rating at minus 21 points, with independents sitting 55 points underwater on the president.

"The American people are going, what was the point of all of that?" Schmidt said.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

A Republican senator pleaded with reporters to "take a breath" as they tore apart President Donald Trump's Iran deal claim by claim.

Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) found himself on the defensive on Thursday during a Capitol Hill press availability, struggling to answer pointed questions about the memorandum of understanding the Trump administration struck with Iran.

It started with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).

"What would you say to your Republican colleagues — like Ted Cruz — who say the deal is bad and that we are sending a lot of money across?" a reporter asked.

"If not this, what would you do?" Moreno shot back. "Give me an alternative."

The reporters kept coming.

"We didn't achieve anything," one pressed. "Nothing was achieved. They've still got their nuclear capabilities."

"That's not a fact," Moreno insisted. "That's an opinion."

A second reporter zeroed in on the MOU's claim that $300 billion could flow to Iran. Moreno explained it was contingent on Arab and other nations investing in Iranian infrastructure — but only if Iran ended its nuclear program and returned enriched uranium.

"They're not going to do that," the reporter said flatly.

"You don't know that!" Moreno fired back. "Maybe they won't."

"They won't."

"Maybe they — well, do you have a crystal ball?"

Moreno had opened the exchange on an upbeat note, calling the deal "a very positive thing" and urging his colleagues and the press corps alike to hope for the best.

"Why not take a breath," he said, "and hope that we have a good outcome — that we have peace and stability?"

"Although," he added, "we aren't allowed to bet on Polymarket anymore."

Along with layers of green algae, the Reflecting Pool took another turn for the worse after Trump's $14 million renovations.

The paint coating the bottom of the Reflecting Pool started peeling off, according to video and reporting online. The Reflecting Pool has already been plagued with a layer of murky green from algae blooms since last week.

The Bulwark's Sam Stein noted that the workers poured hydrogen peroxide into the pool to combat the algae and green color and that the chemical can be used for paint removal.

Stein compared the peeled-off paint to "a dead bird's wing flapping in the water," and others online piled on the mockery about Trump's costly and seemingly failed renovations.

"Trump in a nutshell, cheap, nasty bling," author and professor Phillips P. Obrien wrote on X.

"Trump has made as much a mess of the Reflecting Pool as he has made of our country and its standing in the world," professor and scientist Michael E. Mann commented. "It's the perfect metaphor for Trump and his GOP enablers, going to the next election."

"This is Trump's entire career," author Richard Kadrey chimed in on Bluesky. "Build it sh—, don't pay anyone, then blame somebody else for your f— up. He'll soon declare algae antifa and try to arrest it."

Read on Substack

A forthcoming book revealed that President Donald Trump once touted a document that he received comparing him to world leaders like Josef Stalin and Adolf Hitler, which he claimed was written by a "presidential historian" but was actually written by the caddy of one of Trump's golf partners, according to a new report.

New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan interviewed Trump for their forthcoming book, Regime Change, in March, where the president showed the reporters a document that argued he was more powerful than some of the most powerful strongmen in history, like Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Stalin, Mao, and Hitler. After doing a little digging, the reporters found out the document was not authored by a presidential historian, as Trump claimed, but was written by Gary Player's long-time caddy, who gave Trump the document at Mar-a-Lago, CNN reported.

"But when Swan and Haberman tried to find the author, it turned out he was not a historian, but actually Player’s longtime caddy and personal confidant. The caddy told Haberman and Swan that he 'had first shared his assessment of Trump’s power with Player and later explained it directly to Trump over golf in Florida,'" according to the report.

Trump posted a quote from the document on Truth Social early Thursday morning. Raw Story published a story about the statement, which Trump credited to someone named David King. The story caused a stir among people with the same name as the Trump-identified author, including one David King who works at Harvard and asked Raw Story for a correction.

Trump did not provide any further details on who "David King" is, but celebrated the person's comments anyway.

"Sounds good to me!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Veteran Washington reporter Scott MacFarlane predicted Congress will investigate Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller by week's end, following the New York Times' reports on Miller proposing to suspend habeas corpus rights for undocumented immigrants to accelerate deportations.

Habeas corpus, a centuries-old constitutional right rooted in the Magna Carta, requires the government justify detention before a judge. A confidential April 29, 2025 memo from White House staff secretary Will Scharf warned Chief of Staff Susie Wiles the proposal would be struck down, noting only Congress can suspend habeas corpus during rebellion or invasion.

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

Though the proposal faded, the Times reported it was never abandoned.

MacFarlane also revealed GOP Sen. Tom Tillis expressed concerns about the Anti-Weaponization Fund ahead of Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's July confirmation hearings.

Watch the video below.

At long last, Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) finally has a date for his official, in-person return to Congress after months of absence — but questions still remain about what has been going on in his life.

Kean has been missing for an extended period of time, with even GOP leaders on Capitol Hill kept in the dark. His office has claimed he is suffering from a medical issue, but would not give any details on what that medical issue is. Reporters who went to Kean's house discovered his neighbors also mystified by his disappearance.

According to Politico, Kean's spokesperson, Harrison Neely, "said the 57-year-old lawmaker plans to attend the June 30 House session." However, "Neely did not disclose any further details about Kean’s extended absence, which his team has attributed to an undisclosed health issue. In written statements throughout his absence, staff have promised he would return to work 'soon.'"

Neely insisted that Kean “plans to be fully transparent regarding the nature of his health issue and you should expect to hear from him in person June 30th.”

Kean's return comes as he is facing a tough re-election battle in a competitive House district that he first won in 2022.

Democrats nominated Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot and officer in the Air National Guard, to challenge Kean in November.

Fox News cut away from former President Barack Obama's historic remarks at the opening of his presidential library on Thursday to go to political analyst Reince Priebus.

The abrupt switch came during Obama's dedication speech at the $850 million Obama Presidential Center in Chicago's Jackson Park, where three former presidents and a roster of A-list performers had gathered for an invitation-only ceremony.

Obama was mid-sentence when anchor Sandra Smith pulled the plug.

"Hard things are hard," Obama told the crowd. "And that's especially true in a big, raucous, diverse, argumentative democracy like the United States of America. Everybody's got an opinion. And that means getting stuff done involves reconciling the demands of a couple hundred million people."

"Alright," Smith said, cutting him off. "You've been listening live to former President Barack Obama there in Chicago at the grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center."

Co-anchor John Roberts offered a brief recap — noting that former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were in the audience and remarking that Bono "still looks pretty good" — before pivoting hard to Iran.

"JD Vance becoming a public face to the Trump administration's deal with Iran and what could be a moment that shapes a potential 2028 White House bid," Roberts said. "Reince Priebus is standing by."

Priebus, a Fox News political analyst and former Republican National Committee chairman, then held forth on the Iran memorandum of understanding, calling it "a sixty-day trial run."

"Americans care more about $5 gasoline than they do staying in a war with Iran," Priebus said. "That is an unpleasant thing for some people out there to live with, but it's true."

President Donald Trump was not invited to the ceremony. Obama Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett said the event was reserved for those who supported Obama's journey.

The center opens to the public on Friday.

While former President Barack Obama threw shade at President Donald Trump in his speech on Thursday, Trump took to his Truth Social account to rant and rage about various things infuriating him.

First, the president lashed out at Utah's move toward a mail-in ballot system, warning that Utah could soon follow Colorado and other states down what he called a leftward political spiral. Trump said he won Utah 'handily' both times he appeared on the ballot there, making the development all the more infuriating to him personally.

"All Mail In Ballots, dishonestly handled, are a big advantage for the Dumocrats, whose only Road to Victory, because their Policies are so insane, is CHEATING," Trump fumed. "Does the Republican Party have any idea what is happening to it? Step by step, State by State, the Democrats are smiling all the way to the 'Bank.' Stop the onslaught by either immediately terminating the Filibuster and/or pass THE SAVE AMERICA ACT!"

Trump did not stop there, following up with another post trashing the Senate GOP's unwillingness to eliminate the filibuster, and calling every Republican disagreeing with him on the issue a "fool".

"The Dumocrats will end it within minutes of taking office, and then rapidly proceed to destroy our Country, adding 2 Radical Left States, 4 Dumocrat Senators, many Congressmen/women, their dream of 21 Supreme Court Justices (Not just 13, an unlucky number!), an impossible to beat number of Electoral College Votes (and that’s the Ballgame!), 'Popular' Vote Landslides, and so much else," raged Trump.

"Senate Majority Leader John Thune, and the Republican Senate, must not let this 'carnage' happen," said Trump. "They will go down on the wrong side of History, as will all Republicans who just stood by and watched."

All of this comes amid rising tension between Trump and Senate Republicans over their inability to pass his agenda.

A Slate reviewer delivered a scathing verdict on Vice President JD Vance's new memoir, arguing the book accidentally revealed how much politics has "corrupted" its author.

"Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith" is Vance's first book since "Hillbilly Elegy" and was released Tuesday in what many read as a soft launch for a 2028 run. In a review published Thursday, Molly Olmstead wrote that the book is essentially two books crammed into one. For its first 177 pages, she wrote, it's a "thoughtful" meditation on trauma, fatherhood, and Vance's winding path from evangelical Christianity to atheism to Catholicism.

Then, Olmstead argued, it falls apart.

"From that point on, Communion, which came out on Tuesday, is a stiff and unimaginative political memoir. It deploys an eye-roll-worthy staff of straw men as it defends Trump’s policies," she wrote.

The break comes right after Vance nods to his "evolution from Trump critic to Trump supporter" and pivots to defending the administration.

Olmstead traced the divide to timing, noting much of the thoughtful first half appears to predate Vance's 2022 Senate run, with one passage lifted almost verbatim from a 2020 essay. She flagged a jarring later passage about Vance stockpiling ammunition over the "China virus" as the moment the tone sours. The book, she concluded, is a window into his devolution.

"The tragedy of Vance’s new book is that this split reminds you of who he used to be. It’s not only that he squandered a decent beginning, but that he revealed how far he has fallen from the thoughtful young man who once had something original to say," she wrote.

She found the ending unnerving, citing Vance's wish to return America to a "Western Christian civilization" given he "just may be our future president."

Olmstead's critique comes after The Wall Street Journal's Barton Swaim ripped the book for "egregious sloppiness," and readers buried it in one-star Goodreads reviews within hours.

She concluded the book offers a "window into just how much the thoughtful boy in Hillbilly Elegy allowed himself to be corrupted by politics."

CNN special correspondent Jamie Gangel was astounded on Thursday after former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama called out President Donald Trump during their speeches at the opening ceremony of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.

Both Obamas spoke at the opening event, which was attended by politicians like former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, as well as thousands of people who supported the Obama campaigns. In her speech, Michelle Obama drew a sharp contrast between her husband and Trump, ending it with a wry smile that sent the crowd into a frenzy. Barack Obama followed up by declaring the central idea of America was that there would be "no kings," a not-so-subtle reference to Trump and the protests that have occurred during Trump's second term.

Gangel said she considered the Obamas' speeches to be a call to action for Americans.

"Let's just call it out. He never mentioned Donald Trump by name, but he didn't need to. The message was clear," she said. "President Obama talked about [how] you shouldn't be a bully. You shouldn't be divvying up spoils. And then he went on to talk about how he has faith in our country and that if you didn't, it would be a betrayal of our founding fathers. I'm paraphrasing here, 'As unsettled as we are, he doesn't believe that people are looking for anger.'"

"And then he went on ... it was really about passing the mantle," she added. "He said, 'This is not about nostalgia. It's not about Barack and Michelle doing something or that history is yet to be written by all of us,' which is really what this center is supposed to be: a call to action."

President Donald Trump joked Vice President JD Vance would bear blame if the Iran peace deal fails, but Republicans are already privately criticizing the agreement while publicly remaining silent.

Oil industry insiders and GOP lawmakers object to economic support for Iran and Trump's defense of Iran's ballistic missile rights, with one Republican calling it total surrender, reported Politico's Playbook.

"Plenty of Republican lawmakers are also uncomfortable, in private at least," Playbook wrote.

Vance's team welcomes the deal being framed as the "Vance Peace Deal," given the war's broad unpopularity, reports Dasha [Burns] on the Playbook Podcast.

White House officials view ending the conflict as politically necessary, and Vance's willingness to front the agreement reflects this. A White House insider noted that GOP attacks inadvertently inoculate Vance from the war's unpopularity while positioning him to defend Trump from criticism.

The dynamic paradoxically strengthens Vance's political standing as he defends the president against his own party's complaints.

Watch the video below.

US President Donald Trump’s war with Iran may finally be reaching a close. But consumers and businesses around the world will continue to pay the price in the months ahead as still-elevated energy costs funnel hundreds of billions of dollars to fossil fuel giants.

That’s according to a report from the environmental group 350.org released Thursday, following Trump’s signing of a memorandum of understanding with Iran this week to begin the process of formally ending a war that has sent global oil prices skyrocketing and saddled ordinary people with record fuel prices.

The group estimated that just 110 days of war resulted in the transfer of an additional $374 billion from consumers and businesses into the coffers of oil and gas companies beyond what would have been expected had the war never been launched.

And while Trump claims his agreement to end the war this week will avert an “economic catastrophe,” there will likely still be tremendous pain even if the Strait of Hormuz reopens promptly.

Using oil and gas pricing scenarios from the International Monetary Fund’s April 2026 World Economic Outlook and data on global consumption, 350.org predicted that by the end of the year, consumers and businesses will spend an additional $199.8 billion on oil and $128.1 billion on gas above a non-war scenario, making for a grand total of more than $700 billion as a result of the war.

This, the group said, is a conservative estimate, as it does not even take into account knock-on effects. The war will ultimately end up costing much more when factoring in inflation across the rest of the economy, resulting from higher fuel costs or fertilizer shortages caused by the strait’s closure, which has affected food prices.

It also does not take into account the resulting effects on economic output or employment as rising costs and lower consumer spending force companies to tighten their belts.

“The oil and gas industry is draining billions from people and businesses on the back of a war that has killed thousands and pushed millions toward poverty and hunger,” said Andreas Sieber, head of political Strategy at 350.org.

“Even if the Strait of Hormuz reopens tomorrow, we should expect prices to remain above pre-crisis levels,” he said. “We witness not only a massive fossil fuel crisis but a vast upward transfer of wealth built on instability of fossil fuel markets and pain.”

While the war has brought it into starker relief, previous reports from 350.org have shown that even if the US had never attacked Iran, the continued global dependence on fossil fuels was resulting in trillions of dollars of avoidable costs each year, including $9.3 trillion to mitigate climate-related damages and air pollution-related deaths each year, costs that disproportionately fall on the world’s poorest.

In order to alleviate economic strain from the war, Sieber said, “governments should tax these excess profits now and use the revenues to protect people, cut bills, and rapidly deploy renewables that make households and small businesses less vulnerable to the next fossil fuel shock.”

Estimates of inflation also do not account for how the war has heightened global instability and poverty, which will require additional resources for humanitarian relief efforts. In late April, the United Nations Development Program estimated that even if the conflict had ended then, more than 32 million people worldwide would be pushed into economic precarity.

This is not to mention the resources that will need to be expended to address the harms caused by the war itself.

In exchange for negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program, a portion of the memorandum of understanding requires the US to work with “regional partners,” presumably other Persian Gulf allies, to scrounge up at least $300 billion to help Iran pay for reconstruction and economic development after the country was devastated by American and Israeli attacks on civilian infrastructure and millions were displaced.

As a report from the International Rescue Committee detailed last week, the Iran war has also had cascading effects on other conflicts and catastrophes.

“Six months ago, the IRC warned that a New World Disorder was emerging,” said David Miliband, the humanitarian group’s president and CEO. “Since then, disorder has not only grown but accelerated. A war with Iran. A million people have been forced to flee their homes in Lebanon. A brewing global food security catastrophe that risks plunging millions more people into acute hunger. An expanding Ebola outbreak. Defanged diplomacy and collapsing aid budgets.”

“The Iran war couldn’t have happened at a worse time,” Miliband said in a New Yorker article published Thursday. “It set off a chain of events that’s very damaging.”

President Donald Trump privately laughed at two top tech billionaires behind their backs as they sought to curry favor with him following the 2024 race.

According to "Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump" — a new book by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, obtained ahead of its June 23 release by Wired — Trump spent weeks regaling associates with stories of how Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos were "kissing my a—."

"You would not believe the texts I got from these tech guys. I've got to show you," Trump told guests, according to the book.

Among the texts Trump showed off: a photo of a letter written by one of Zuckerberg's grade-school-age children, who wrote that they "looked forward to the golden age of America." When Zuckerberg visited Mar-a-Lago the night before Thanksgiving 2024, Trump welcomed him by playing the national anthem — performed by the J6 Prison Choir, a group of detained January 6 rioters.

Trump also recounted the dynamic to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. "Think of where these guys were in 2016," Trump told Musk, per the book. "They hated me. They were doing everything they could to knock me down. And look at them now."

"First-class groveling," Musk replied.

Bezos fared no better. Over dinner at Mar-a-Lago in December 2024, Bezos trashed his own newspaper to Trump, calling Washington Post staffers "terrible." "They don't listen," Bezos said, per the book. "My other companies, they listen."

Months later, in July 2025, Bezos traveled to the Oval Office to pitch Trump on steering Pentagon space contracts toward his Blue Origin company — an effort to compete with Musk's SpaceX. Trump said he would consider it but never did, instead expanding access for SpaceX.

Neither man had always been so accommodating. Zuckerberg banned Trump from Facebook and Instagram after January 6, 2021, calling the risks of keeping him on the platform "simply too great." He and his wife, Priscilla Chan, once wrote that they were "deeply shaken and disgusted" by Trump's rhetoric.

Bezos, meanwhile, called Trump's behavior "eroding our democracy" in 2016 and offered to send him to space on one of his rockets.

After Trump won in 2024, Meta and Amazon each donated $1 million to his inaugural committee, and both men attended his inauguration. Zuckerberg axed Meta's fact-checking program, ended its diversity initiatives, and hired Trump loyalists to top company posts.

White House spokesperson Kush Desai did not directly address the book's reporting. "President Trump is committed to working with every American business and business leader to cement America's innovative dominance, re-shore critical manufacturing, and accelerate economic growth," Desai said.

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy deployed a foul-mouthed Donald Trump to salvage his bid to remain in his leadership position at the beginning of 2023 as the “beleaguered” California Republican faced a revolt from his fractious caucus.

According to the New York Times, which obtained a copy of McCarthy aide John Leganski's book to be released next week, Trump unloaded on Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) with screaming expletives and demands after Biggs refused to budge from his anti-McCarthy stance.

"I'll never support you if you don't support Kevin!" Trump told Biggs bluntly, employing a stream of profanities to drive his point home.

According to the book, Biggs wasn't Trump's only target. The former president demanded to speak with Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ), another holdout and the sole first-term lawmaker refusing to back McCarthy. Trump claimed he had "saved" Crane's congressional bid and threatened swift retaliation.

"I'll find a challenger to him so fast his head will spin," Trump reportedly shouted at Crane—punctuating the threat with more expletives.

The intimidation campaign ultimately succeeded, the Times is reporting. After McCarthy failed to secure enough votes on his initial attempts on January 6, 2023, Trump's bullying forced the holdouts to capitulate. Biggs, Crane, and other members eventually voted "present" on the 15th ballot, allowing McCarthy to become Speaker with 216 votes.

The deep divisions Trump temporarily papered over would fester and metastasize. Just 269 days later, the same band of holdouts ousted McCarthy, plunging the House into chaos, the report notes.

Leganski, who listened to Trump's fury-filled calls on speakerphone, described the experience as surreal.

"It was incredibly intense for the holdouts. They could barely get a word in. It did not surprise me that the others began to duck our calls, because I would never want to be on the receiving end of that," Leganski said.

The intimidation was so effective that two additional holdouts—Reps. Matt Rosendale (R-MT) and Bob Good (R-VA)—simply dodged McCarthy's calls entirely once word spread that Trump was making the calls.

Former President Barack Obama shaded President Donald Trump during his speech at the opening ceremony of his new presidential center in Chicago on Thursday.

Obama gave a brief history lesson about the founding ideals of America during the opening ceremony of The Obama Presidential Center, where he reminded the audience that the framers of the Constitution created a system that allows each generation to make American democracy better for their successors. During the speech, Obama levied a couple of not-so-subtle digs at his successor, Trump.

"In over more than two centuries, through petitions and protests ... men and women of all walks of life, from every color and every faith, every region, took up the cause of democracy until we, the people, came to include not just some of us, but all of us," Obama said. "And that's why the story we tell in this building begins not with Michelle's origins or my origins, but with our nation's."

Throughout Trump's second term, he has sought to rewrite American history. For instance, Trump ordered the Smithsonian to remove any exhibits that portrayed America in a negative light. He also gave similar orders to the National Park Service.

Obama also took a shot at Trump's efforts to expand executive power. He reminded the audience that America was founded at a time when the world was governed by "rigid hierarchies and caste," whereas America began with a different story in mind.

"A declaration that we are all created equal, that we are all endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, that in the new independent United States, there will be no kings or lords, no serfs or subjects, but only citizens," Obama said.

He also shaded Trump's attempts to put himself above the law.

"No one is above the law, or beneath its protection," Obama said.

Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and John Kennedy (R-LA) confronted Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) during a closed-door Republican lunch Wednesday.

Sources described it as a pile-on over Lee's push to keep the Senate in session until a voter ID bill passes, reported Punchbowl News' Andrew Desiderio.

Cornyn and Kennedy challenged Lee's strategy for the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, complaining that President Donald Trump was being misled about the bill's passability, saying it undermined Republican unity and Trump's agenda.

The confrontation followed a public spat five days earlier when Cornyn, despite co-sponsoring the bill, publicly called out Lee on X, writing, "you don't have the votes" and urging him to focus on Democrats rather than attacking Republicans.

"'On what planet is this an attack on Republicans?'" Lee responded on X, adding, "That's not an attack on Republicans. That's a plan of attack against voter fraud."

The House-passed legislation requires citizenship documentation to register and a photo ID to vote federally.

The bill has 50 Senate votes but needs 60 to overcome a Democratic filibuster.

Watch the video below.

A Republican Senate candidate boasted of his AI experience at a campaign event, then admitted seconds later that he was "scared" by a video that later turned out to be AI-generated.

Heartland Signal obtained audio from a March 17 event hosted by the Oakland University College Republicans. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), a former FBI agent and House Intelligence Committee chairman running for Michigan's open Senate seat, has made national security and tech experience central to his campaign.

"I'm in a company right now that uses AI," Rogers told the crowd. "So I'm sure they're terrifying you young students that AI is gonna kill you, and take your job, and stuff you in a trunk, right? Oh, man. The fearmongering of all of that."

Seconds later, he changed course entirely.

"Did you see that video of the Chinese soldiers? They are completely autonomous soldiers," Rogers said. "That was a little terrifying to me. I don't know. I looked at it. It was a little scary. I mean, they were functioning as — as soldiers. They're completely robotic, armored up, and they were doing a combat lane run and were performing pretty well."

That video was a fake. A fact-check by Deutsche Welle, the German public broadcaster, found telltale signs of AI generation, including missing shell ejections and an empty magazine being loaded into a weapon.

Forensic ballistics expert Philipp Cachee concluded the footage was "almost certainly" AI-generated after spotting errors in how the robots handled weapons.

Rogers also reposted the video on LinkedIn after Deutsche Welle published its debunking.

A recent TIPP Insights poll found that all three of his potential Democratic opponents were slightly ahead of him in general election matchups, with the seat rated a toss-up.

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 Knicks, 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.