A legal expert was aghast on Monday night while reacting to an excuse Jeanine Pirro concocted to explain her signature case falling apart.

Over the weekend, reporting indicated that Pirro told President Donald Trump that it was a career staffer in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C. who dropped the vandalism prosecution against Olympic canoeist David Hearn, and not her. Eli Honig, a CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor, reacted to the news during a panel on CNN's "The Source."

"There is no way on this earth, having been one of those career officials, that when your U.S. attorney calls a press conference like that, that's covered on national news, you would then go and dismiss the case without looping in the U.S. attorney," Honig said. "That's a firable offense. So I do not buy that was done without her knowledge for one second."

Pirro's decision to drop the case against Hearn reportedly enraged Trump. During a press conference on Monday, he lashed out at Pirro, saying she "folded like an umbrella."

Cameras also captured Pirro and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum going to the White House on Monday evening.

Three months after it was unveiled with fanfare in the Oval Office, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's reality TV road trip series still hasn't released a single episode despite millions in donations from the very industries he regulates.

Duffy, his wife Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy, and their nine kids allegedly filmed "The Great American Road Trip" over seven months, crisscrossing the country in a project pitched as celebrating America's 250th birthday and offering families a wholesome alternative to modern life, The Bulwark's Will Sommer noted on Monday evening.

"To love America is to see America," Duffy said, describing the show's motto during a promotional appearance alongside President Trump.

The five-part series was originally slated to premiere on YouTube in June, timed to Fourth of July festivities and Trump's separate Freedom250 celebration. Instead, summer is more than half over with nothing released, and the nonprofit behind the project, run by former travel-industry lobbyist Tori Barnes, has repeatedly declined to explain the delay, only promising the show is coming "in the coming weeks."

The financing has drawn its own scrutiny. Boeing and Toyota each donated $1 million to sponsor the series, according to the Wall Street Journal, joined by Shell, Royal Caribbean, United Airlines and Comcast — all companies with business before Duffy's department. One travel company reportedly refused to buy in based on the ethics concerns.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) formally asked DOT's inspector general to investigate, while the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed its own complaint alleging Duffy accepted improper travel benefits from sponsors his agency oversees.

The Transportation Department maintains no taxpayer money funded the Duffy family's involvement, describing the trip as part of Duffy's official duties.

A former federal prosecutor on Monday pumped the brakes on the perception that Jeanine Pirro acted graciously when she ended the prosecution of David Hearn in a surprise move last week.

Reports indicated that President Donald Trump was furious with Pirro after she dropped the prosecution of Hearn, an Olympic canoeist who was arrested and charged with felony vandalism of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Pirro dropped the prosecution after a report from the Department of the Interior found that the damage to the surface of the reflecting pool was likely caused by shoddy work from the contractor, and not Hearn reaching into the pool and ripping the surface, as the administration alleged.

Trump erupted over Pirro's decision during a press conference in the Oval Office on Monday, saying she "folded like an umbrella."

Harry Litman, a former federal prosecutor, argued in an essay for The New Republic that Pirro really didn't have a choice in the "humiliating debacle."

"Once those documents surfaced, she had two choices," Litman argued. "She could either dismiss the case on her own terms—spinning the story as diligent prosecutors misled by a careless agency—or turn the material over to Hearn’s lawyers and let them present it to Judge Todd Edelman, a former career public defender who, a week earlier, had already warned the government it was 'operating at its own peril.'"

Litman added that the move revealed the ploy lurking behind what he described as "the most perfectly Kafkaesque prosecution [he] can remember outside the annals of fiction."

"Handed the Interior documents, he would have blown his top and dismissed the indictment himself, in open court. So Pirro’s dismissal was not virtue: It was damage control," he wrote.

The New York Post has been accused of publishing a hoax story about New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, then retroactively trying to make the story seem real when they got caught.

According to Judd Legum of Popular Information, last week the Post "published a fake cover story claiming 'thousands' of 9/11 families were trying to ban Mamdani from the 25th anniversary ceremony at Ground Zero." Then, after being called out, the Post "assigned 10 REPORTERS to track down more 9/11 families who want Mamdani banned. They are now up to 10 people. The last I’ve checked, that’s not 'thousands.'"

As all of this unfolded, Legum noted, "a group representing 250 family members of 9/11 victims has condemned the effort to ban Mamdani. The Post dismisses them as a 'far-left group… trying to silence 9/11 families.'"

The whole affair earned an explosion of outrage from commenters on social media.

"So dark — the @nypost invented a story about 'thousands' of 9/11 families telling @NYCMayor Zohran to 'stay away' from the anniversary ceremony… then tried to cover it up when they got called out. (After others picked it up)" wrote The Tennessee Holler.

"Wild story. The 'thousands of 9/11 families' storyline looks like a feejee mermaid," wrote Semafor reporter David Weigel.

"The NY Post got hoaxed and reported that 'thousands' of 9/11 families had signed a petition against Mamdani," wrote Drop Site News' Ryan Grim. "After the hoax was exposed, they assigned a huge team of reporters to manufacture the fake story they already published and try to make it retroactively true. The crack team of reporters is up to ten 9/11 families. Just 1,990 to go!"

MS NOW's Symone Sanders Townsend blew up on Monday's edition of "The Weeknight" over Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) and his seeming lack of concern for his daughter.

On Saturday, the senator finally addressed the swirling scandal about his daughter's ex-husband, Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), who has been alleged to have brutally abused his now ex-wife and young daughter to the point of injuries and broken bones.

And yet, Sanders Townsend noted, he went weeks or perhaps even years knowing this and stayed silent as his daughter's alleged abuser ran for Congress on the same ballot as him.

"My father is with the ancestors. He's with the angels, okay?" said Sanders Townsend. "But I think I can confidently say that if I was ever in the situation that Emily Moreno has found herself in, that it would not take my daddy weeks to months to speak up on my behalf."

"I'm sickened by this," she added. Whether voters will care remains to be seen, she continued, but "I am sickened by every single member of the Republican Party apparatus on Capitol Hill that just has not come out, and wholesale condemned it."

And above all, she said, "I'm sickened by Senator Moreno. Where are your cojones? Where's your spine? ... Where's your self-respect? Your self-esteem? There is nothing in this world that is worth your self-respect. I need the Republican Party apparatus across this country to pick it up. Find it, because this is sick."

Miller, for his part, continues to deny all allegations against him and has vowed to stay in the race despite mounting pressure.

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President Donald Trump justified reducing Utah's Bears Ears National Monument by over 1.2 million acres by claiming hikers, hunters, and anglers were locked out.

"You can't go hunting, you can't go fishing, you can't do anything," Trump said.

However, newly obtained government documents by The New York Times revealed a different reality.

Internal briefing memos from Utah's Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office, sent to Interior Department officials in June, confirm "current recreational access" existed at the site, including off-road vehicle routes offering "motorized access deep into the area" and a 40-mile backcountry loop used by backpackers.

Records also show Utah allows hunting and fishing with proper licenses.

Experts expressed shock at the contradiction.

Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance legal director Steve Bloch accused Trump of "lying or spreading misinformation."

“I was shaking my head. I was like, ‘I wonder if he’s ever been here to this region, because if he knew this region, he would find out this place is totally accessible,” Indigenous tour leader Louis Williams said.

Bears Ears was designated a national monument in 2016 by former President Barack Obama.

Watch the video below.

President Donald Trump appalled one political analyst on Monday with a "quintessential" Trumpian move to protect one of his legacy projects.

Trump has engaged in multiple renovation projects across Washington, D.C., from multiple updates at the White House to pushing forward an idea to build the Trump Arch, modeled after the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. As part of those projects, the Trump administration has erected a large fence around Lafayette Square, which journalist Dan Rather noted in a new Substack essay is the only place in D.C. to get a clear view of the White House these days.

The Trump administration has also put forward plans to permanently fence off Lafayette Square during “heightened conditions," Rather noted in the essay. He added that fencing off Lafayette Square, which has a rich history of peaceful protest, would be a "slap in the face" to American democracy.

"Peaceful protesting is a cornerstone of our national identity," Rather wrote. "Blocking access to the most recognizable place to assemble, to publicly oppose the government, and to hold the powerful accountable is detestable. But it is quintessential Donald Trump."

"Distancing the White House proper from real Americans is an apropos metaphor for this administration. The 'haves' are in charge. Everyone else must move along. The president doesn’t like unsightly things, especially protests outside his bedroom window," Rather added.

Rather also pointed to what he suspects is motivating Trump in his endeavors.

"Trump wants to ensure his legacy projects are permanent, or as close to permanent as they can be," Rather wrote. "He is devoting extraordinary amounts of his time and your money to that end, because he fears that when his term is over, and he has shuffled off this mortal coil, Americans’ appetite to honor him will be scant."

Senate Republicans are divided over their priorities, a situation laid bare by Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) as he lashed out at Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) on Monday.

Speaking to Punchbowl News' Andrew Desiderio, Kennedy warned that Thune's move to focus on confirming nominees for President Donald Trump rather than work on a budget is a "huge mistake."

Kennedy added that when he's speaking to voters or campaigning on behalf of fellow Republican candidates, “You know one of the things I never say? I never look those people in the eyes and say, ‘We set a record for the number of nominees confirmed.’ I've never said that. And I don't think any other senator has ever said that. Because I don’t think the American people care.”

For months now, Senate Republicans have been boxed in and frustrated by the growing demands of Trump on policy — particularly his obsession with passing the SAVE America Act, a package of draconian voter restrictions.

Kennedy, a lawyer by trade, similarly had nothing but scorn over the weekend for the Trump administration's botched attempt to criminally prosecute people for supposed "vandalism" to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool that turned out to be damage from improper renovation.

"The whole thing is a multiple vehicle pile-up," Kennedy said on "Meet The Press." "The president says it was caused by vandals. I don't know whether he really believes that or if it's part of his political messaging."

President Donald Trump stunned a CNN analyst on Monday by taking a "victory lap" about a golf tournament he allegedly won over the weekend.

On Sunday, Trump, 80, posted on Truth Social that he won the Bedminster Senior Club Championship at his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, with a final round score of 70, which would be two under par for the course. The post stunned CNN political commentator Jamal Simmons, who laughed at it when asked during a segment on "OutFront" with host Brianna Keilar.

"I'm trying to compose myself because it's a little embarrassing to have the leader of the country spend his time doing this!" Simmons said. "Look, for average Americans, we see that personal savings are going down. We see the credit card delinquencies are going up. Gas is back up over $4 a gallon a gallon. And here they have the President of the United States spending his time talking about what's happening in a golf tournament that he may or may not have won, because we don't know. Sometimes the president doesn't tell the truth about things."

"[I] just don't know how the American public is going to look at this and say, this president is focused on our concerns, [and] our agenda," he added. "Instead, this guy seems to be focused on his own golf game."

Sunday's outing at Bedminster marked the 125th day that Trump played golf since his second term began in 2025, according to the Trump Golf Tracker. The website estimates Trump's golf outings have cost taxpayers at least $175 million.

President Donald Trump shared a Newsweek International cover Monday showing a giant cartoon version of himself straddling North and South America in a safari outfit holding a fuel pump, captioned "TRUMP WAS RIGHT (ABOUT VENEZUELA)."

The White House reposted the image with the caption, "TRUST IN TRUMP."

The imagery closely mirrors an infamous 1892 illustration of British imperialist and white supremacist Cecil Rhodes standing over Africa in nearly identical pose and size, holding a telegraph line.

Rhodes, a diamond magnate, used his British South Africa Company to seize present-day Zimbabwe in the 1890s, resulting in over 20,000 African deaths.

As Cape Colony prime minister, his policies disregarded African land rights and established foundations for apartheid discrimination.

“I contend that we are the finest race in the world and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race,” Rhodes wrote on June 2, 1877.

“Just fancy those parts that are at present inhabited by the most despicable specimens of human beings what an alteration there would be if they were brought under Anglo-Saxon influence, look again at the extra employment a new country added to our dominions gives.”

Watch the video below.

A prominent Trump watcher flagged a "major question mark" that Democrats face as Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche appeared certain to be confirmed for the attorney general role.

Maggie Haberman, a New York Times reporter and author, told CNN's Jake Tapper on "The Lead" that the deal brokered between the Trump administration and Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) to end their holdout on supporting Blanche's confirmation created a perilous situation. She noted that it could put the Department of Justice squarely at odds with Congress after the November midterms if Democrats regain power, as some polling suggests they might.

Tapper described the situation as a "real recipe for confrontation."

Haberman added that there is more at stake.

"I think this is the major question mark hanging over what happens post-November, if Democrats retake control of the House and possibly the Senate, as they seem poised to do in current polling," Haberman said. "We don't know by what margin if that does happen, but we have seen Justice Departments either slow-walk or not comply with Congressional subpoenas on very specific matters."

Democrats have said their first priority after retaking power would be to impeach President Donald Trump. The DOJ could slow-walk that process by refusing to share information and spurring court battles.

"What we haven't seen before is an entire government, or major aspects of the government, that simply don't respond to these subpoenas," Haberman said. "And Congress does have pretty limited recourse in what it can do. It can take a contempt of Congress vote against the Attorney General. I'm just not sure who adjudicates that."

Allies of President Donald Trump are urging him to push embattled Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) out of his reelection race over domestic abuse allegations — even as Trump tells reporters he'll just "let the families figure that out."

On Monday, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) became the latest Trump ally to call on Miller to forfeit his seat. Republicans ranging from Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) to several GOP strategists who have worked for Trump have also called on Miller to resign.

"You shouldn't be in office," Scott told Pablo Manríquez of MeidasTouch.

Behind closed doors, four sources familiar with the matter told CNN that top House Republicans have been calling White House officials directly, hoping Trump will convince Miller to drop out before Tuesday's ballot deadline. Per one source, Trump has privately told allies he doesn't believe Miller can actually win the race given the mounting accusations.

Publicly, though, Trump is staying noncommittal, simply saying, "I'm going to let the families figure that out."

Miller's ex-wife, Emily Moreno, has accused him in police interviews and court filings of holding a gun to her head and breaking their toddler daughter's collarbone, though no charges were ultimately filed. Miller has denied every allegation, calling the gun incident false and insisting his firearms stay locked in a safe.

Over the weekend, Miller's own former father-in-law, Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno, finally broke his silence and condemned Miller in a lengthy post to X, saying that he "should not serve" in Congress. Miller fired back, accusing him of only speaking out now to distract from his own controversies. He also posted a packet of court and police records that named his young daughter and included his ex-wife's home address, drawing further backlash.

Under Ohio's ballot laws, if Miller withdraws by Tuesday, the state holds a special primary to replace him; after that, GOP leaders get a narrow window through August 10 to pick a replacement themselves.

Trump carried Miller's exurban Cleveland-area district by 11 points in 2024, but Democrats are now eyeing the seat as vulnerable — leaving Republicans racing against the clock to decide whether Miller stays on the ballot at all.

Former NYC Mayor Eric Adams co-led a public meeting in Wisconsin Rapids for PNK Group's proposed data center project, but faced intense community backlash.

A video by South Wood County Neighbors for Responsible Development shows attendees booing, heckling, and challenging Adams over his involvement with the developer and past corruption and bribery allegations made against him. Adams was joined by PNK Group's chief development officer Anton Voronkin, Wisconsin Rapids Tribune reported.

The meeting, originally scheduled for an 80-person room, relocated to a 248-person venue that filled to standing-room-only capacity within 30 minutes.

Over 50 residents protested outside with signs reading "PNK GO AWAY," citing concerns about water use, wildlife threats, and climate impact.

During the two-hour session, Adams and Voronkin were both pressed by residents on the impacts of water usage on the Wisconsin River, electrical costs, diesel generator noise, and sewer discharge.

When Voronkin admitted PNK had never built such a facility before, attendees questioned the community's trust.

The Trump administration dropped Adams' federal bribery case early in the president's second term.

Watch the video below.

A MAGA firebrand in Florida has been accused of defrauding a high school debate champion over scholarship money his company promised her, according to a new report.

James Fishback, who is running for governor in Florida, has been accused of defrauding Briana Whatley, a current sophomore at Florida State University and a high school debate champion, out of $8,000 of an $11,000 scholarship she won after competing in a debate competition hosted by Incubate Foundation Inc., a company controlled by Fishback. The lawsuit claims that Fishback acknowledged that he "dropped the ball" in paying Whatley, and noted that he previously asked for her bank information and sent her $3,000 via Zelle, according to a report from The Guardian.

Whatley argued in the lawsuit that Fishback “personally evaded and defrauded [her] by initially ignoring communications, later blaming a terminated employee for the written award terms, falsely claiming an unwritten ‘installment policy,’ and delaying payment for months," according to the outlet's reporting.

Fishback did not respond to The Guardian's request for comment ahead of publication. He is facing off against former Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), another MAGA firebrand, and Jay Collins, the lieutenant governor of Florida, in a heated primary election scheduled for November 18.

A video shared by attorneys shows a California ICE detainee holding up a water bottle crawling with "worm-like creatures" just weeks after a judge ordered the facility to fix its water problems.

The footage, filmed last week and shared with The Guardian by attorney Margaret Hellerstein, shows Carlitos Ricardo Parias, a Los Angeles man detained for months at the Adelanto ICE facility, displaying a plastic bottle filled with water containing what appeared to be small swimming pests. Parias, known online as TikTok creator Richard LA, said he poured the water into the bottle himself to preserve it as evidence after staff distributed it to detainees from communal jugs.

"We need proper drinking water, better treatment," Parias said in a statement translated from Spanish by his attorney.

Parias previously made headlines after being shot by an ICE agent in October; a judge later dismissed the resulting assault charge against him, and he was transferred into ICE custody, where he now faces removal.

The video surfaces amid an ongoing class-action lawsuit over "dangerous conditions" at Adelanto, which is run by private prison company Geo Group. A federal judge recently ordered ICE to guarantee detainees "24-hour access to clean, potable drinking water" after plaintiffs alleged the facility's water was discolored, foul-tasting and frequently ran out for hours.

“The video is very disturbing, and we’re looking into it,” said Rebecca Brown of the legal advocacy group Public Counsel, one of the firms bringing the lawsuit. “Detained individuals have long complained about the quality of the water … We’ve heard of water being murky, tasting terrible, having unknown things in it.”

The Department of Homeland Security did not directly address the video, saying only that Adelanto draws water from the same municipal supply used by the surrounding community. In a separate court filing this week, DHS lawyers claimed independent testing confirmed the water meets FDA cleanliness standards. DHS further argued that Geo Group is the party responsible for ensuring habitable conditions in Adelanto.

President Donald Trump's Department of Justice slammed the door shut on some January 6 rioters who had sued the government, according to a new court filing.

DOJ prosecutors in Florida argued in a new filing that a class of 35 rioters who sued the Capitol Police alleging "excessive force" were "forever barred" from bringing their claim because the statute of limitations had run out. The filing was published at a time when Trump is personally lobbying for Congress to establish the so-called "anti-weaponization" fund through legislation, a $1.776 billion fund that could pay people who claim they were wrongfully prosecuted by the government.

"The instant Complaint has a myriad of dispositive issues," prosecutors argued. "First, the Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction because of claimants’ failure to exhaust administrative remedies before filing the Complaint. Second, all the asserted [Federal Tort Claims Act] claims are barred by the statute of limitations. Finally, even if this Court were to find that the Named Plaintiffs have alleged a cognizable FTCA claim, the case should be transferred for improper venue."

In the filing, the prosecutors noted that the FTCA required the plaintiffs to file their cases within two years of being knowingly injured. Instead, the plaintiffs waited more than five years, according to prosecutors.

The prosecutors also noted several deficiencies in the legal paperwork submitted by the plaintiffs. For instance, some documents did not include the proper signatures, while others were missing supporting documentation.

The filing was first reported by Kyle Cheney, senior legal affairs reporter for Politico.

President Donald Trump's crusade to prosecute imaginary "vandalism" of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is a massive humiliation for his administration, former federal prosecutor Elliot Williams told a CNN panel on Monday.

This whole episode, he said, is "embarrassing for [D.C. prosecutor] Jeanine Pirro ... it's also embarrassing for the Secretary of the Interior, Doug Burgum. It's embarrassing for the President of the United States. It's embarrassing for the Justice Department. Everything about how this played out is horribly embarrassing."

While Trump's vendetta against Pirro is absurd, he continued, she is no "hero" in all this either.

"The question is, at the time that they filed charges in the first place, did they have enough evidence to proceed with a case that they thought they could win in court?" said Williams.

Based on everything known about the case in the public record, he said, "it doesn't look like they do." And then, "this bonkers memorandum that the Justice Department submitted, [threw] the Department of the Interior under the bus."

Effectively, he said, the DOJ stuck Burgum with the blame for having gone forward "with a purely political prosecution that they could not plausibly stand up in court and say that they could support in any court of law. They knew that. We all knew that. And quite frankly, the president knows that as well."

"There was never credible evidence that could stand up in court that this individual committed a federal crime," he added.

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Espionage expert Calder Walton, author of "SPIES: The Epic Intelligence War Between East and West," warned President Donald Trump may be the most surveilled president in U.S. history due to his willingness to take calls from reporters and weak security at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump's mobile phone number is widely known among Washington journalists, enabling direct calls for interviews. His accessibility exploits vulnerable foreign intelligence services.

Walton argued foreign powers, including Russia, China, and Israel, are "almost certainly" listening to Trump's conversations as his unpredictability makes understanding his intentions critical.

"One can only imagine how many foreign spies are also listening in to his phone conversations," Walton wrote.

"There is, of course, a fundamental difference between intelligence collection by friendly states and hostile regimes," he elaborated.

"The latter will be using all of the dark arts not just to discover secrets but to influence a target – including espionage, subversion and sabotage."

Mar-a-Lago has a history of security deficiencies; classified documents were reportedly found in Trump's bathroom during his first term.

Watch the video below.

Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC) faces a recommendation of censure as the House Ethics Committee has determined the extensive list of allegations that he creeped on women staffers in his office are credible.

"At the completion of its investigation, the Committee concluded there was substantial reason to believe Representative Edwards violated House Rules related to sexual harassment and hostile workplaces," stated the committee's release. "The Committee therefore has recommended that the House of Representatives adopt the Report, and with it, a censure of Representative Edwards for the conduct described therein.

The release said that the committee intends "to bring a privileged resolution for consideration and vote by the full House" on censure.

Edwards, who was first elected to his Western North Carolina congressional seat in 2022 after a bitter primary battle with another scandal-plagued Republican, has been accused of a variety of unwanted advances against women in his office, all while being married.

In one incident detailed last month, Edwards gave staffers blue and pink handguns as personal gifts.

In another incident, he took a staffer on a trip to Las Vegas and showered her with gifts, including "a custom puzzle that, when assembled, revealed an image of actor Adam Sandler alongside a handwritten note inviting the staffer to attend one of Sandler's comedy shows with him."

The deal Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche appears to have brokered with some Senate GOP holdouts in his confirmation battle may contain a few surprises.

On Monday, reports indicated that Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) were willing to end their holdout and vote to confirm Blanche for the attorney general role after Blanche signed a document attesting that the Justice Department's so-called "anti-weaponization" fund is dead. The $1.776 billion fund sought to pay people who claimed they were wrongfully convicted by the government, and President Donald Trump has said the fund has a lot of support from "big" Trump supporters.

However, the deal that Blanche brokered may not be legally binding, argued Elliot Williams, a CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor, on Monday's broadcast of "The Arena."

"It is not clear that any of this is actually binding," Williams said. "And the biggest thing this exposes is the problem with having the president literally be on both sides of the v in the lawsuit here."

The anti-weaponization fund was created as part of a settlement between the DOJ and IRS, two agencies that Trump oversees, in a case involving Trump's leaked tax returns. Williams described the lawsuit as Trump suing Trump, which creates a lot of headaches for judges.

"That creates a huge legal problem that led one of the judges that looked at this to say, 'Wait a second, there isn't even a controversy here. I can't even adjudicate this.' This is a big problem," Williams said.

Kate Beddingfield, a former White House communications director for the Biden administration, added that Blanche's deal also created political vulnerabilities for Trump.

"[This] is actually a pretty significant political vulnerability for Trump," Beddingfield said. "This notion that he is focused on himself, that he is focused on enriching himself and his family. This is actually one of the big liabilities that Trump has out in the country. And one of the reasons that his favorability is so low."

"I also think just the idea that Donald Trump is going to adhere to any kind of independence of the Department of Justice, which he's made very clear he's not interested in, or adhere to any written piece of paper, period, of any kind to constrain him if he decides he wants to move forward with this."

Washington State ballot measure IL26-638 would require girls from kindergarten through high school to undergo sex-verification testing before participating in sports.

Testing includes genetic screening, testosterone testing, or examination of reproductive anatomy, The Cut reported.

The measure would bar transgender athletes from girls' teams and, if passed, would be the nation's most extreme of its kind.

Physicians raised concerns about how exams would be conducted, by whom, and the risks to privacy and potential sexual abuse.

Critics across social media condemned the proposal as violating children's bodies and genetic privacy.

"Can't think of a thing that will radicalize a generation faster than 'you've gotta let that old man in the corner over there see what's inside those pants before you play Kindergarten volleyball,'" wrote The Onion's Ben Collins.

"To be fair, conservatives openly hates women’s and girls sports and this is a sure fire policy method of destroying them," argued Zeteo's Asawin Suebsaeng.

"The obsession with trans women in sports is, apart from the abject bigotry, a symptom of how we take amateur sports participation way too seriously in this country," wrote journalist Marisa Kabas.

Watch the video below.

Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance warned Sunday that the Supreme Court may rule this week on President Donald Trump's appeal seeking to block a lower court order preventing new postal rules from restricting mail-in ballots.

The Trump administration's rules would prohibit the Postal Service from creating a national voter database and limit mail-in ballots to people on an approved list.

The filing, made less than 100 days before the midterm elections, is evidence Trump fears losing power, according to Vance.

"However the Court rules, the fact that we are even here is the ultimate criticism of this administration," Vance wrote.

"Under the Constitution, the choice of elected officials belongs to the people. Donald Trump is deathly afraid of what that means."

Vance emphasized the executive order is not routine but a deliberate attempt "to wrest control from the people" and consolidate power among Trump, conservative allies, and wealthy oligarchs.

She urged the public not to treat the case as business-as-usual governance.

Watch the video below.

President Donald Trump let loose at a reporter Monday after being asked whether he was reconsidering U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's role after she dropped a vandalism case against a former Olympian.

Pirro filed a motion Friday to dismiss a felony case against three-time Olympian David Hearn, according to ABC News, conceding the damage was "the result of flawed installation by the contractor."

Trump had spent weeks insisting vandals wrecked his $16 million Reflecting Pool renovation, according to ABC News.

"You're fake news. Don't ever talk again," Trump snapped at the reporter. "You're fake news. One of the worst in the business. Fortunately, nobody watches you."

Trump had already lit into Pirro before the reporter asked his question.

"Jeanine Pirro made a mistake," the president said.

"It was vandalism!" he added.

Trump claimed surveillance footage showed vandals cutting the new liner in the pool with a box knife.

"Now we have photographs or tapes, like moving cameras. Right? We have them where people are on the side cutting it with a box knife," he said.

Pirro's filing described a different sequence of events. A National Park Service engineer had flagged peeling around the pool's edge on June 11 — eight days before Hearn visited the site, ABC News reported. A government witness could not attribute any damage to Hearn.

"Frankly, I think she choked, because the judge was really vicious. Instead of going after the people that did it, the judge went after her and went after her department, and I guess she choked," Trump said.

"I was disappointed with Jeanine Pirro. Really disappointed with Jeanine Pirro. She folded like an umbrella, and people get away with things, and it's a disgrace," he added.

CNN reported Trump had fumed about Pirro all weekend and that sources called her firing "highly likely."

He was "blindsided" by her filing, a source said, and their Saturday phone call "wasn't pretty."

Federal judges had knocked down nearly a dozen of Pirro's gun cases as unconstitutional, CNN reported, and her office won only half of its first eight criminal trials in 2026.

"Nothing is off the table," Hearn's attorney Michael Bromwich said of his client's legal options, which include bar referrals, inspector general complaints, and lawsuits.

President Donald Trump's D.C. federal prosecutor is hanging by a thread as the president is reportedly considering firing her.

His rage at Jeanine Pirro, a longtime Fox News firebrand personality who was appointed to oversee the D.C. U.S. Attorney's Office, stems from her blowing up his long-running claim that vandals wrecked the Lincoln Memorial's Reflecting Pool, CNN reported on Monday.

Pirro's office moved Friday to drop felony charges against David Hearn, a former Team USA Olympic canoeist accused of ripping up the pool's lining. Prosecutors admitted new documents from the Interior Department showed the real culprit was a "rushed and flawed installation process," not vandalism — a stunning reversal from an administration that had spent months blaming saboteurs for the pool's peeling liner, algae blooms and murky green water following Trump's $14 million renovation.

In fact, the documents filed with the court indicated that Trump administration officials were aware of damage to the pool lining days before Hearn supposedly came into contact with it, completely torpedoing any potential case.

One source told CNN it's now "highly likely" Pirro loses her job over the filing, which also pointed fingers at Interior Secretary Doug Burgum's department for withholding key documents earlier in the case. Despite that, Trump isn't angry with Burgum and continues insisting vandals caused most of the damage, offering no new evidence to back the claim.

Even before the Reflecting Pool affair, Pirro's tenure as U.S. attorney has been marked by a series of humiliating losses in court, one of the most prominent being her failure to convict an Air Force veteran accused of throwing a sandwich at a Customs and Border Protection agent.

President Donald Trump paused an Oval Office event on Monday to deliver an unprompted on-camera endorsement of Scotts Miracle-Gro, telling the room — and national audience — he owed the lawn-care giant a plug because it had worked on the White House grounds at no charge.

The moment came as Trump was boasting about renovations to the building, including a new ballroom and what he described as a rooftop drone port.

"The best grass you can get. Scotts, you know Scotts? Scotts Miracle-Gro, they're doing it. They do great grass," Trump said. "I got to give him a plug because they did the White House for free."

In a separate clip, Trump gestured to the South Lawn and said the grass was "being all replaced with the top stuff." He also declared Washington, D.C. had been turned into "Shangri-La."

The Ohio-based company had already drawn ethics scrutiny before Monday's shout-out. In June, Scotts Miracle-Gro committed $1 million in cash and product to help the National Park Service repair the South Lawn after it was torn up by the June 14 UFC Freedom 250 event Trump hosted on the grounds. The White House said no taxpayer money would be used.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington flagged the arrangement at the time. "Major corporations generally don't do things out of the goodness of their heart," CREW vice president Jordan Libowitz told The Washington Post. "It's generally — they do things for the government because they want something from the government."

Scotts former chief executive Jim Hagedorn, who left the company in June 2026, has been an outspoken Trump ally. In a July 2025 interview on Fox Business, he called himself a "major fan" of the president and said he had spoken with Trump "multiple times" about federal marijuana policy, an issue central to Scotts' Hawthorne cannabis-cultivation subsidiary.

Campaign finance filings tracked by OpenSecrets show Scotts Miracle-Gro and its affiliates donated roughly $770,000 during the 2024 cycle, including $500,000 to Make America Great Again Inc., the main pro-Trump super PAC.

Scotts, founded in 1868 in Marysville, Ohio, describes itself as the leading marketer of branded consumer lawn and garden products in North America, with roughly $3.4 billion in annual sales.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Congress's most vocal crusader against insider trading, now threatens to sue a newspaper and prosecute a federal source over allegations she calls a fabricated smear.

The Wall Street Journal reported July 18 that Luna tipped off MAGA influencer Rogan O'Handley on President Donald Trump's vice presidential pick so O'Handley could place a winning bet on Polymarket, a political betting platform.

A July 22 letter from Associate Deputy Attorney General Diego Pestana, obtained by Axios, confirmed the Justice Department never investigated Luna over the allegations.

"This disgusting attempt to politically smear me fell flat on its face because it was based on lies," Luna wrote on X.

"I was never under investigation and the WSJ reported false information based on one 'anonymous source' and then cherry-picked my quote to spin their own fake narrative," Luna continued on X. "That's not journalism, that's a political hit job."

Luna wrote on X that the source behind the allegations has been referred for criminal investigation.

"Any and all outlets who reported this fake story will be forced to retract and take down. We have already sent one cease and desist, more incoming if these outlets don't correct their false reporting," she wrote.

Luna sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Tampa Bay Times, which had covered the WSJ report, demanding it remove two articles, issue a retraction, and preserve all documents ahead of possible litigation, according to Axios.

Pestana wrote that the Justice Department "at no point had an open investigation into allegations that Rep. Luna engaged in criminal conduct, including allegations about insider trading in prediction markets," according to Axios.

Pestana added the department "never received a referral based on those same allegations from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission," the outlet reported.

The Journal based its report on "a person familiar with the conversation" who said Luna, at a summer 2024 lunch at the Stovall House — a members-only social club in Tampa — told associates she knew Trump would pick Vice President J.D. Vance.

According to that source, Luna said she tipped off O'Handley and "teased" him for "not placing a bigger wager," the Journal reported.

O'Handley denied "receiving, trading on or discussing nonpublic information about Trump's vice presidential pick," calling the story "pure BS" on X.

Luna spearheaded a discharge petition in December to force a House floor vote banning members of Congress from trading individual stocks.

The Senate voted unanimously in April to ban its members from trading on prediction markets. The House has not passed a similar measure.

Journalist and political strategist Christopher Armitage accused former Attorney General Pam Bondi of insider trading Monday.

According to ProPublica, Armitage alleged she sold approximately $5.5 million in Trump Media securities in April 2025, hours before President Donald Trump announced reciprocal tariffs that tanked the stock.

Despite the 14-month gap, no insider trading case has been opened against Bondi.

In his analysis published on Substack, Armitage compared her situation to Martha Stewart's 2004 conviction for lying to investigators about a $45,673 stock sale, noting Stewart served five months in federal prison despite her wealth and connections.

Bondi's disclosure forms lack critical details, such as: time, price, and what she knew.

"Broker execution records answer the first two, and the first two are evidence of the third. A single subpoena would produce them. The federal government has not issued that subpoena,” Armitage wrote.

Armitage argued a single subpoena could produce this evidence, yet the federal government has not issued one.

“New York State can still charge this,” he noted.

“No pardon can stop it, no attorney general can quash it.”

Watch the video below.

President Donald Trump claimed hikers, hunters and anglers were locked out of Utah's Bears Ears National Monument and used that story to justify slashing its size by more than 1.2 million acres.

Newly obtained government documents tell a very different tale.

"You can't go hunting, you can't go fishing, you can't do anything, you can virtually not even walk on it," said Trump at his announcement of the rollback last month, to which Interior Department deputy Kate MacGregor chimed in, "That's exactly right, sir, so you are remedying that today."

But documents obtained by The New York Times through a public records request show Trump officials were briefed just weeks earlier on the monument's popular recreational trails — including a route open to off-road vehicles offering "motorized access deep into the area," and a backcountry corridor frequently used by backpackers tackling a 40-mile wilderness loop.

Utah's own Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office sent the briefing memo to a senior Interior Department adviser in June, specifically confirming "current recreational access" existed at the site. And records indicate that Utah officials allow people to hunt and fish in the area provided they have the required licenses.

Experts were stunned by the revelation.

Steve Bloch, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance legal director, told The Times that these documents indicate Trump was “lying or spreading misinformation about these fantastic public lands,” while Louis Williams, who founded a group for indigenous-led tours of the monument, said, “I was shaking my head. I was like, ‘I wonder if he’s ever been here to this region, because if he knew this region, he would find out this place is totally accessible.’”

National monuments, which can be designated by presidents, have similar protections to national parks; recreational use of the land is allowed, but development like grazing, drilling, and mining are prohibited.

Bears Ears was first designated a national monument in 2016 by former President Barack Obama. Trump made a similar push to roll back protection on most of the land in his first term, over the objections of local tribal groups. He was sued over the change, but the Biden administration restored the full monument before that case could be resolved.

President Donald Trump shared the latest cover of Newsweek International on social media Monday, depicting a giant version of himself straddling North and South America — an image almost certainly evoking an infamous 1892 caricature of British imperialist and self-proclaimed white supremacist Cecil Rhodes.

The cover of Newsweek International bears the text: “TRUMP WAS RIGHT (ABOUT VENEZUELA),” with a cartoon depiction of a giant Trump wearing a safari-style outfit while holding a fuel pump. The White House joined Trump in sharing the image on X, along with the caption “TRUST IN TRUMP.”

The cartoon depiction of Trump mirrors almost exactly a famous 1892 illustration of Rhodes, who in the cartoon is seen in a near-identical position and size, standing over Africa, his arms outstretched in a similar pose, only holding a telegraph line rather than a fuel pump.

A British diamond magnate, Rhodes used his British South Africa Company to seize what is now Zimbabwe in the 1890s, with African deaths in the conquest likely exceeding 20,000. His policies as Cape Colony prime minister also disregarded African land rights and laid groundwork for apartheid-era discrimination decades later.

In his own writings, Rhodes laid bare his outlook on race.

“I contend that we are the finest race in the world and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race,” Rhodes wrote on June 2, 1877.

“Just fancy those parts that are at present inhabited by the most despicable specimens of human beings what an alteration there would be if they were brought under Anglo-Saxon influence, look again at the extra employment a new country added to our dominions gives.”

Adam O'Neal, Opinion Editor at Jeff Bezos' Washington Post, abruptly resigned Friday, catching staff by surprise.

O'Neal was appointed over a year ago to shift the editorial page from liberal-leaning to align with Bezos' "free markets" ideology, reported media watchdog Status.

During his 18-month tenure, O'Neal oversaw aggressive restructuring that sparked internal backlash and subscription cancellations. There were layoffs, recruitment of conservative voices, and expansion of video content.

A particularly troubled initiative was the "Make It Make Sense" podcast, which received $80,000 in studio equipment shortly after February layoffs, Status reported. Yet the video channel has attracted only 1,600 YouTube subscribers.

Staff described the project as "a total embarrassment" amid questions about resource allocation during newsroom layoffs.

O'Neal announced his departure during an all-hands meeting, citing personal family reasons.

According to reporting by Status, the Opinion section is uncertain of its direction following O'Neal's departure.

Watch the video below.