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Andrew Solender / Axios: Rep. Michael McCaul won't seek reelection in 2026 — Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said Sunday he will retire when his term ends rather than seek reelection. … - His announcement comes as a growing wave of House members are leaving the chamber, either to seek other office or to retire from politics altogether.
Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs / New York Times: After Kirk's Killing, Suspect Joked That His ‘Doppelganger’ Did It — Before he was arrested on suspicion of carrying out the assassination, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson sent friends messages showing that he was closely following news about the killing. — The day after Charlie Kirk was killed …
Rolling Stone: Inside Stephen Miller's Reign of Terror — Everything you loathe or love about Donald Trump's America, you hate or cherish about Miller's republic of fear — t was after 3 a.m. on Nov. 6 last year, and nobody on the planet was happier than a balding, slender man standing near the reception desk of the Hilton West Palm Beach.
Jonathan Mahler / New York Times: Trump Is Shutting Down the War On Cancer … Rachael Sirianni first learned her lab might be in trouble just a few weeks into the new year. A professor at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, in Worcester, Sirianni focuses primarily on an aggressive form of pediatric brain cancer known as medulloblastoma.
Jonathan Mahler / New York Times: Trump Is Shutting Down the War On Cancer … Rachael Sirianni first learned her lab might be in trouble just a few weeks into the new year. A professor at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, in Worcester, Sirianni focuses primarily on an aggressive form of pediatric brain cancer known as medulloblastoma.
Peter Baker / New York Times: In an Era of Deep Polarization, Unity Is Not Trump's Mission — President Trump does not subscribe to the traditional notion of being president for all Americans. — The first few minutes of President Trump's Oval Office address after the assassination of Charlie Kirk last week followed the conventional presidential playbook.
Peter Baker / New York Times: In an Era of Deep Polarization, Unity Is Not Trump's Mission — President Trump does not subscribe to the traditional notion of being president for all Americans. — The first few minutes of President Trump's Oval Office address after the assassination of Charlie Kirk last week followed the conventional presidential playbook.
Hilary Hanson / HuffPost: 'Just Kill ‘Em’: Fox Host Makes Shocking Comment On Homeless People — “Fox and Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade made a jaw-dropping remark while discussing homelessness and mental health. — “Fox and Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade suggested this week that homeless people suffering …
Marc Caputo / Axios: Kirk suspect's transgender roommate “aghast,” may be key to motive — Authorities are investigating whether Tyler Robinson, suspected of killing Charlie Kirk, believed Kirk's views on gender identity were “hateful” to people like Robinson's transgender roommate, six sources familiar with the case tell Axios.
Washington, DC – President Donald Trump has made his appointments to the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC), so Unicorn Riot started looking into their backgrounds. The list is a who’s who of troublesome and generally bigoted individuals, not unlike Trump’s cabinet. A failed political candidate who founded Bikers for Trump, a venture capitalist who promotes racist and fascist ideas, and a sheriff who denies systemic racism exists are just a few of those sitting on the newly minted council.
Representatives from the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the cop brotherhood with a long history of racism, didn’t make the cut for Trump’s HSAC like they did under Biden.
The council, which advises Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, is already problematic: it meets periodically, makes recommendations, and provides advice to the Secretary of Homeland Security, but is made worse by the people who have been part of it. These appointed members of police unions with histories of promoting racist ideas, alongside corporate CEOs with similar views, provide likely biased suggestions at the cabinet level, and thus directly into the White House:
“The Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) leverages the experience, expertise, and national and global connections of the HSAC membership to provide the Secretary real-time, real-world, and independent advice to support decision-making across the spectrum of homeland security operations.”
While some names put on Trump’s HSAC aren’t so out of the ordinary, such as South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster (R) to serve as chair, and Florida State Senator Joseph Gruters (R-FL22) to serve as vice-chair, other names raise eyebrows. Let’s take a look!
Marc Andreessen is the co-founder and general partner of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, an agency heavily invested in various tech companies and cryptocurrency exchanges, with about $42 billion in assets under management. Andreessen has backed various “freedom cities” or “startup cities” effectively controlled or owned and operated by private corporate entities, and is part of a coalition to bring similar undemocratic city-states to the states.
One only has to look at Starbase, Elon Musk’s city in Texas, to see how Republican leaders are willing to allow the corporate takeover of municipal governments. With Trump talking about liberating “Democrat-run cities,” it behooves voters to pay attention to the largely overlooked statements Trump has made about these proposed cities. Andreessen, Peter Thiel, and others are clamoring to advance this agenda. The conservative Project 2025 plan angles to dismantle the administrative state and impose right-wing control on cities, while former Project 2025 head Paul Dans claims freedom cities are the “construction” that follows Trump’s program of “demolition.”
Meanwhile, Andreessen has made comments suggesting that decolonizing India from British rule has been detrimental to the nation of nearly 1.5 billion people, saying,“Anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for the Indian people for decades. Why stop now?”
Andreesen hosts group chats with tech executives and racist political influencers. The group chats included white supremacist Richard Hanania, right-wing commentator Chris Rufo, Tyler Winklevoss, Tucker Carlson, and many more. (Winklevoss’ cryptocurrency firm Gemini settled a lawsuit alleging it deceived derivatives regulators for $5 million in January.)
Andreessen also called Curtis Yarvin a friend three weeks after Yarvin said, “Everything rots when it has no owner—human beings included.” Yarvin went by the moniker ‘Mencius Moldbug’ online and has often been described as a neoreactionary and techno-fascist. Other statements by Yarvin include “If you think ‘racial equality’ is a good idea, you are not paying attention to reality” and “It is very difficult to argue that [the Civil War] made anyone’s life more pleasant, including that of freed slaves.” Andreessen named Filippo Marinetti, a Mussolini-era Italian fascist, as an inspiration in his 2023 “Techno-Optimist Manifesto.”
The Revolving Door Project warned of Andreessen’s attempts to popularize himself among liberals and Democrats, saying that the venture capitalist’s “longstanding commitment to extreme right-wing ideology makes it clear that any attempts to ingratiate himself with liberals are just a means of obtaining crypto-friendly legislation.” Andreessen and his firm are key funders for the pro-crypto Fairshake (PAC).
“Andreessen is a leading figure in both Silicon Valley’s persecution complex and its embrace of both neo-fascistic and monarchical thinking … Andreessen is quick to bemoan his supposed mistreatment at the hands of mean liberals and eager to proclaim that supposed `moderates’ like him were driven into the Republican Party’s awaiting arms. But this is simply not the case … Andreessen has long been a staunch reactionary who embraces authoritarian viewpoints.”
The Revolving Door Project
Christopher “Chris” Cox, Bikers for Trump Founder
Chris Cox founded Bikers for Trump in 2016. A chainsaw artist from South Carolina with no law enforcement or policy experience, he failed in his attempted 2020 run for political office in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District. Bikers for Trump was allegedly created in response to 2016 protests against Trump’s first presidential campaign, leading to the cancellation of a rally in Chicago.
The group gained considerable attention during the 2016 election, when Trump at one point suggested that they were among the “tough people” who would support him if Democrats went too far in their investigations of his alleged crimes. In 2019, Bikers for Trump transitioned from a grassroots movement to a political action committee, allowing it to engage directly in political activities and fundraising.
“We’re not out there looking for a fight, but we’re certainly not gonna back down from one either.”
Chris Cox during Trump’s 2020 campaign launch
Cox also referred to COVID as the “plandemic,” citing a discredited yet popular conspiracy theory that argued the pandemic was planned and orchestrated by global elites for the typical “globalist” purposes, a term sometimes used as an antisemitic dogwhistle in hard-right discourse.
Mark Dannels, Cochise County Sheriff, Arizona
Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels, who sat on Trump’s HSAC during his last term, was removed from the council after Biden’s DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas terminated the existing membership of Trump’s HSAC in March 2021. Daniels is known for participating in an anti-immigrant border rally sponsored by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Southern Poverty Law Center-designated hate group that is part of the Tanton Network.
Dannels is no stranger to racially charged anti-immigrant rhetoric, calling immigrants a threat to public safety. He has inflated the number of migrants crossing the border to fuel panic, and called the U.S.-Mexico border the “largest crime scene in the country” during a House Judiciary hearing in 2023.
At the height of attacks against the Black Lives Matter movement in 2021, while serving as leader of the Arizona Sheriffs Association, Dannels joined the fray to denounce the movement when he attacked the idea that bias in policing exists, saying that “isolated bad acts provide evidence of a systemic problem is maliciously unsupportable and patently false.”
“Those who, through prejudice, stereotyping, bias, and discrimination, indict all of law enforcement officers as being systemic racists now use those assertions as a platform to mandate law-enforcement reform. Some even tacitly or directly encourage violence against law enforcement. They do so based upon the zealous false assertion that law enforcement is systemically racist. This assertion does not move us forward. Rather, it divides us. It detracts from any real and meaningful law-enforcement reform.”
Mark Dannels
Dannels is only interested in police reform involving people with law enforcement experience, suggesting he’s not interested in community involvement or community-centered policies, as stated in his 2021 open letter when he bemoaned “political leaders with no law enforcement experience” seeking to “direct law enforcement reform”:
“The issue of law enforcement reform is now infected by politics. Political leaders with no law enforcement experience now seek to direct law enforcement reform. They do this with political agendas or to gain favor with some political constituencies.”
A former cop and private investigator, some of Bo Dietl’s newsworthy work over the last decade has been geared towards protecting the far-right media sphere. Dietl was hired by Fox News to investigate and attempt to discredit women who accused former executives Bill O’Reilly and Roger Ailes of sexual harassment. Dietl worked with Steve Bannon to investigate Bannon’s ex-wife and chatted on the radio with Don Imus to intimidate a colleague over a disagreement.
Dietl has also made various racist comments. In 2017, he compared a Black female judge to former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s former wife, Chirlane McCray, who is Black. Dietl, a staunch Republican, was running for mayor at the time, and Judge Debra James barred him from also running in the Democratic primary. Dietl has also made comments suggesting racial profiling was necessary when people“act like a terrorist.”
Dietl now advises Trump and Noem on Homeland Security policy.
Mark Levin, Broadcast News Analyst, The Mark Levin Show
Prolific conservative commentator Mark Levin has been known to spread wild conspiracy theories on his Fox News TV show “Life, Liberty, & Levin” and on the radio via the Mark Levin Show. His talk radio show generally ranks in the national top 10.
He took part in the “Deep State”conspiracy theories about former president Barack Obama wiretapping Donald Trump’s offices during the 2016 election, claiming that Obama loyalists were waging a “silent coup” against Trump.
During the 2020 election, as media outlets were reporting that Joe Biden had won, Levin told his radio audience that Biden was“stealing the election,” and insisted to his followers on social media that “there’s lots of evidence of voter fraud and election screw-ups.” He posted that Republican state legislatures should assert “final say” over presidential electors. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Levin asserted that the flu killed more people and downplayed the threat of the coronavirus.
Lewandowski has also suggested that“you have to respect” white nationalists and was once accused of having an affair with Noem, then-Governor of South Dakota. He has also stepped in to defend Trump against accusations of racism on many occasions. Lewandowski is also known for mocking a young girl with Down Syndrome in 2018. He has refused to apologize for anything.
Lewandowski is the “de facto chief of staff” under Noem at the Department of Homeland Security with “almost singular authority to fire people,” according to a source for CNN (archive).
Georgette Mosbacher, Co-Chair, Three Seas Programming, Atlantic Council’s Europe Center, Former Ambassador to Poland
U.S. Ambassador to Poland from 2018 to 2021, Georgette Mosbacher once criticized a Polish law which banned blaming Poland for Nazi Germany’s actions during the Holocaust, saying it was responsible for a rise in antisemitism in Europe. She received backlash from the Polish government, which deemed her comments unacceptable. She was also critical of the European Union’s relationship with Poland.
Omar Qudrat, CEO, Maden, Founder, Muslim Coalition for America, Major, U.S. Army Reserve
Omar Qudrat is an attorney and former U.S. Department of Defense official. In his national security career, Omar spent 18 months in Afghanistan during the surge as the coalition’s Deputy Chief of Rule of Law and Political Advisor to the NATO Ambassador. A military prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay for an unknown number of years, Qudrat has worked with pro-Israel groups through his Muslim Coalition for America. An op-ed justifying why he supports Trump, and comments suggesting the U.S. could “learn from countries like Israel”about building a border wall, likely explain his position in an advisory role for the Trump administration.
“Harris tells us we will never be equals, and Trump tells us we are already cherished. Harris is telling us to vote for her because of the color of our skin, and Trump is telling us to vote for him because he represents our best interests.”
Omar Qudrat, 2024 op-ed in Newsweek
Qudrat started his career at the Carlyle Group Entrepreneurship Program, where he worked on the acquisition of technologies and identifying emerging markets. While the Carlyle Group itself does not have direct defense contracts, the companies it owns or controls have done billions of dollars’ worth of business with the Pentagon.
Rudy Giuliani, Former NYC Mayor and Disbarred Prosecutor
Rounding out the list of problematic people on a council that advises the White House on homeland security is former New York City Mayor and Trump acolyte Rudolph W. Giuliani, a major drop in status from his post-9/11 glory days, when the mass media christened him “America’s Mayor.” Before 9/11, Giuliani was infamous for defending NYPD police killings of unarmed Black people, pushing racist “broken windows” policing and causing long-term damage to NYC’s queer community by cracking down on LGBTQ nightclubs.
A former federal prosecutor, Giuliani was disbarred in New York and the District of Columbia in 2024 for his actions as an attorney while trying to overturn the 2020 election.
Others on the HSAC
In addition to Giuliani, the roster represents many corporate leaders and former Trump officials.
Stephen Sloan, Global Head of Secondaries at Future Standard (formerly Portfolio Advisors). Co-Founder, Cogent Partners.
James “Jim” Pallotta, Managing Partner and Founder, The Raptor Group. Highly networked billionaire, often listed as one of the top 20 hedge fund managers in the nation.
Edward T. McMullen Jr, Senior Policy Advisor, Adams and Reese LLP. Former Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein during the first Trump term.
George M. Lund, CEO and Chairman, Torch Hill Investment Partners. Treasurer and Executive Council member at the Atlantic Council.
Nicholas Luna, Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Implementation, The White House. Luna previously worked for Vice President JD Vance and in the first Trump Administration as a personal aide“who travels most frequently with the president,” according to CBS News.
Matthew J. Flynn, Attorney, Steptoe, former Deputy Assistant to the President, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Counternarcotics and Global Threats. A GOP policy aide and advisor, including on the Trump-Vance transitional team. (Not to be confused with a Wisconsin Democrat of the same name.)
Harvey C. Jewett IV, Executive at Performance Capital Partners, retired President of Super 8 Motels Inc., retired President and Chief Operating Officer, Rivett Group LLC., President, Great Plains Education Foundation, Inc.
Steve T. Kirby, Founding Partner, Bluestem Capital Company.
Cover image and other compositions by Dan Feidt. “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” directed by Stanley Kubrick (Columbia Pictures, 1964). Mark Levin and Rudy Giuliani source photos by Gage Skidmore. Marc Andreessen source photo Kevin Maloney/Fortune Brainstorm Tech.Bo Dietl, Chris Cox, Bob Smith and group photos via the Department of Homeland Security on Flickr.
Noah Smith / Noahpinion: The Bluesky-ization of the American left — Progressives discovered a seemingly invincible weapon. One day it stopped working. — I remember walking through a bookstore in college and seeing an issue of Foreign Affairs with the headline “The Palestinian H-bomb”.
The Atlantic: One of Utah's Own — Before the president of the United States announced on this morning's broadcast of Fox & Friends that the man who'd assassinated Charlie Kirk was finally in custody—"I think, with a high degree of certainty, we have him"—he had already told the American people who was to blame.
FBI Director Kash Patel speaks alongside Utah officials during a press conference about the killing of Charlie Kirk. Photo by Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
This past week truly and tragically underscored the dark moment the US is currently facing – not only because of the horrific and inexcusable killing of Trump ally and right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk, but also because of the response to it.
Instead of bringing the nation together in the face of escalating political violence, Donald Trump, as president, chose to further divide the country, immediately blaming everyone on the left (despite knowing nothing about the shooter). What Trump and his allies conveniently failed to mention is that Democrats have been the victims of a spike in political violence themselves, perpetrated by pro-Trump individuals on the right.
The Kirk news dominated the news cycle, as it will likely do for days to come, but in the background, Trump and his allies continued to take a number of actions that harm democracy, undermine the Constitution, and hurt free societies worldwide.
From Trump’s strange denial of what clearly looks like his signature on a birthday message to Jeffrey Epstein, to his border czar spreading disinformation about people protesting against the administration’s policies, to the Supreme Court allowing ICE to continue practices that effectively amount to racial profiling, here’s ‘This Week in Democracy – Week 34’:
Saturday, September 6
On Truth Social, Trump shared a meme that depicted him as an officer in the 1979 film ‘Apocalypse Now,’ with the title “Chipocalypse Now.” The caption read, “I love the smell of deportations in the morning…,” and continued, “Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of War.” In response, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker tweeted that Trump, whom he called a “wannabe dictator,” is “threatening to go to war with an American city,” and added, “This is not a joke. This is not normal.”
Thousands of people protested in Washington, DC, to demand the Trump administration end its federal law enforcement takeover of the nation’s capital, with signs that read “Trump must go now,” “Free DC,” and “Resist Tyranny.”
On Truth Social, Trump said that Israel has accepted his terms for an agreement to free the hostages and end its war on Gaza and added that it’s “time for Hamas to accept as well.” He went on to say that he “warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting,” and noted, “This is my last warning, there will not be another one!” Drop Site News later reported that a senior Hamas official said the 100-word proposal “looks like it was written by the Israelis.”
In an interview on ‘60 Minutes Australia,’ comedian Rosie O’Donnell responded to Trump’s repeated threats to revoke her US citizenship, saying that while it would violate the Constitution, “he has pawns in the Supreme Court and you never know what he’d be able to do.” O’Donnell also noted that she’s being advised on “what would be right and healthy and what would be safe for myself and my family” when it comes to visiting the US from her new home in Ireland.
On Fox, Trump’s border czar Tom Homan said without evidence that those who are protesting the administration’s immigration crackdown are “absolutely” being paid to do so, and that those who are behind the funding “will be prosecuted too.”
Asked by NBC News reporter Yamiche Alcindor whether Trump is trying to go to war with Chicago based on his Saturday post on Truth Social, the president berated her, called her “darling,” and told her to “be quiet,” adding, “You never listen. That’s why you’re second-rate.”
Monday, September 8
The Trump administration filed an emergency appeal asking the Supreme Court to authorize the freezing of billions of dollars in foreign aid after a lower court ruled it must spend the funds before they begin to expire at the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
Politicoreported that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threatened to punch Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte “in the fucking face” during a private dinner last week, which was attended by dozens of Trump’s administration officials and advisers.
While speaking at the Museum of the Bible, Trump downplayed the seriousness of domestic violence, saying, “Things that take place in the home, they call crime … If a man has a little fight with the wife, they say, ‘This was a crime.’”
Trump also said that the Department of Education will be introducing new guidelines “protecting the right to prayer in our public schools,” while claiming that there are “grave threats to religious liberty in American schools.”
A federal appeals court rejected a lawsuit by a coalition of 19 states and DC, finding that they had no legal standing to sue the Trump administration over its mass firings of thousands of federal probationary employees.
A federal appeals court upheld the $83 million judgment against Trump in a defamation case against writer E. Jean Carroll and rejected his claims that he should’ve been shielded from liability because of presidential immunity. The panel, which found that the jury’s damages awards were “fair and reasonable,” wrote that the hundreds of death threats Caroll faced due to Trump’s social media attacks and public statements against her supported the judge’s “determination that ‘the degree of reprehensibility’ of Mr. Trump’s conduct was remarkably high, perhaps unprecedented.”
The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 unexplained decision, paused a lower court ruling preventing federal immigration officials from stopping suspects in Los Angeles based solely on factors like their race, their occupation, having an accent, or speaking Spanish. In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, “That decision is yet another grave misuse of our emergency docket. We should not have to live in a country where the Government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low wage job.”
Meanwhile, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts allowed Trump to move forward with the firing of a Biden-appointed member of the Federal Trade Commission, directly contravening a 1935 Supreme Court ruling that upheld a federal law meant to restrict the White House’s ability to control the agency, while litigation around her termination continues.
The House Oversight Committee released records from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate, including a note signed by Trump that was part of the sex trafficker’s 50th birthday “book,” which featured text framed around the outline of a naked woman. The text read, in part, “We have certain things in common, Jeffrey,” along with, “Happy birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.” The records also included another entry in the book from a long-time Mar-a-Lago member, which featured a photo of Epstein holding an oversized novelty check with the caption, “Jeffrey showing early talents with money + women! Sells ‘fully depreciated’ [woman’s name] to Donald Trump for $22,500.”
The Department of Homeland Security announced it launched “Operation Midway Blitz” in Chicago, in an effort to “target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets.” In response, Pritzker tweeted that the operation “isn’t about fighting crime,” but “scaring Illinoisians.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson walked back the claim he made last week that Trump was an “FBI informant” against Epstein, saying he didn’t know if he used the “right terminology,” but that it’s “much ado about nothing.”
On Truth Social, Trump posted a video that promoted the long-discredited and debunked claim that vaccines cause autism. The video featured vaccine skeptic David Geier, who was hired to work as a senior data analyst in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a study on links between vaccines and autism.
Asked on CNN about why Ghislaine Maxwell was moved to a lower-security prison, her former lawyer seemingly admitted that it was likely part of a deal with the Trump administration in exchange for her interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, saying, “when anybody who’s represented by a lawyer who knows what they’re doing goes in and meets with the government, there’s always a quid pro quo.”
Trump politicized the killing of a Ukrainian refugee on a North Carolina train to rail against cashless bail, saying “her blood is on the hands of the Democrats who refuse to put bad people in jail,” and calling on Republicans to vote for former RNC Chair Michael Whatley for US Senate.
Tuesday, September 9
NBC News reported that a more than 15-year-old ICE policy requiring officers in its Enforcement and Removal Operations division to fill out a form with details, including the name, known addresses, and criminal history of targeted immigrants before conducting any operations to arrest them, has ended under the Trump administration.
A Michigan state judge dismissed charges against a group of fake electors who signed certificates that falsely stated Trump won the state in the 2020 presidential election, ruling that there wasn’t sufficient evidence to prove their intent to commit fraud. Calling the dismissal a “very wrong decision,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said it marked “the most dangerous slippery slope for American democracy, when courts decide that violations of election laws shouldn’t even be heard by a jury.” Nessel added, “I am terrified for the 2026 elections … If they can get away with this, what can’t they get away with next?”
Israel launched a deadly attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, two days after Trump said his proposal for a ceasefire agreement was “last warning.” A Qatari security official was also killed. The illegal bombing of a sovereign country took place in a residential neighborhood and was condemned worldwide.
Qatar, which has hosted Hamas’ political leadership in part at the request of the US, has been a key mediator in negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage deal. “I think that what [Benjamin] Netanyahu has done yesterday, he just killed any hope for those hostages,” Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Trump administration was notified of the action by the US military, but CBS News reported that Israel told the US, which has a military base in Qatar, about the strike just before it happened. On Truth Social, Trump said the operation was “not a decision made by me” but called the elimination of Hamas a “worthy goal.” He also said that he directed Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to inform Qatar of the impending strike, “which he did, however, unfortunately, too late to stop the attack.”
Asked about Trump’s Monday comments downplaying domestic violence during a White House press briefing, Leavitt baselessly claimed that women are falsely reporting cases of domestic violence as a crime “to undermine the great work” Trump’s task force is doing in DC.
The Supreme Court said it would take up Trump’s emergency appeal related to the legality of his global tariffs, with oral arguments expected in November. In the meantime, the tariffs will remain in place.
The New York Timesreported that Tulsi Gabbard ordered the retraction of an intelligence report on Venezuela and Richard Grenell, who serves as an envoy to the country and has called for negotiations with its government. The report, which was recalled several months ago while Grenell was negotiating the return of undocumented immigrants to Venezuela, focused on his conversations and negotiations with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
The Missouri state House voted to approve a new gerrymandered congressional map that would likely result in Republicans gaining another US House seat in the 2026 midterm elections. The map now moves to the state Senate, which is expected to pass it this month.
Speaking to reporters, Trump denied that he signed the letter included in Epstein’s 50th birthday book, saying, “It’s not my signature and it’s not the way I speak, and anybody that’s covered me for a long time know that’s not my language.”
A federal judge temporarily blocked Trump from firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, finding that the president’s decision to terminate her over accusations of mortgage fraud that allegedly occurred before her tenure is outside the bounds of the “for cause” provision, which is limited to her behavior in office.
The New York Timesreported that Trump’s Justice Department is quietly building the largest national voting database in the agency’s history, which includes data from more than 30 states. Experts say efforts to collect information about individual voters, including their names and addresses, may be against the law, and have raised concerns about the data being used to revive debunked claims about the 2020 presidential election being stolen, or to discredit the results of future elections.
The Supreme Court temporarily authorized the Trump administration to freeze approximately $4 billion in foreign aid set to expire at the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, which includes funding for global health and HIV/AIDS programs.
Wednesday, September 10
Trump ally and MAGA pundit Charlie Kirk was fatally shot while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University. His killing was immediately condemned by politicians and pundits across the political spectrum.
While top Democrats, including Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom, denounced Kirk’s killing, some far-right commentators immediately attempted to blame the left for the shooting. Elon Musk tweeted that “The Left is the party of murder,” while conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer called on the Trump administration to “shut down, defund & prosecute every single Leftist organization.”
Meanwhile, Trump issued a video message from the Oval Office, in which he said, “For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals … My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity, and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it, as well as those who go after our judges, law enforcement officials, and everyone else who brings order to our country.” Trump’s warning came despite the fact that the shooter hadn’t yet been identified in Kirk’s killing, and their motive remained unclear.
AP reported that the Trump administration is reviewing material at national parks and historic sites related to slavery, the destruction of Native American culture and language, the climate crisis, and other information that could be “disparaging” to the US. Additionally, the National Park Service had until July 18 to flag “inappropriate” signs, exhibits, and other material.
A federal appeals court reinstated the copyright chief of the Library of Congress while she continues to challenge Trump’s effort to fire her in court.
ProPublica reported that the Education Department cut funding for programs in eight states that help students who have hearing and vision loss, with a spokesperson for the department citing concerns about “divisive concepts” and “fairness” in relation to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The funding, which will stop at the end of September, was expected to continue through September 2028.
Three former senior FBI officials, including former acting director Brian Driscoll, sued Kash Patel for their firings, arguing they were unlawful and politically motivated. The lawsuit claims that Patel “deliberately chose to prioritize politicizing the FBI over protecting the American people. The suit also details an interview Driscoll undertook before he was appointed as acting director, which appeared to be a loyalty test. The interview included questions about whether he voted for a Democrat in the last five elections and if FBI agents who raided Mar-a-Lago in 2022 “should be held accountable.”
The Trump administration announced it would withhold $350 million in grants to hundreds of colleges serving students of color, reallocating the funds away from eight discretionary grant programs that support Black, Native, Hispanic, and Asian American students.
The Trump administration walked back its claims that hundreds of Guatemalan children it tried to deport back to their home country last month had been requested to return by their parents after a Justice Department attorney acknowledged that the claims had no factual basis and had been contradicted by a Guatemalan government review, which concluded that most of the parents couldn’t be located and the majority who were had wanted their children to remain in the US.
Trump’s 30-day emergency order involving the federal takeover of law enforcement in DC officially expired, though National Guard troops and ICE agents will remain in the area. Meanwhile, The Washington Postreported that National Guard documents concluded that public sentiment about Trump’s takeover has been perceived as “leveraging fear,” driving a “wedge between citizens and the military,” and promoting a sense of “shame” among some troops and veterans.
The New York Timesreported that the Venezuelan boat destroyed by the US military in the Caribbean last week, which killed 11 civilians, had altered its course and appeared to have turned around before the strike began after people on board saw a military aircraft following them. The new details about the strike, which experts say may have violated international law, further undermine the Trump administration’s claim that it was legally justified as self-defense.
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from subpoenaing the medical records of trans patients who received gender-affirming care at a children’s hospital in Boston, calling the move improper and “motivated only by bad faith.”
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from restricting access to services for undocumented immigrants, including the federal preschool program Head Start, as well as health clinics and adult education.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested to Axios that the Trump administration may begin targeting a share of funds generated by patents developed at major universities that receive federal funding, saying, “I think if we fund it and they invent a patent, the United States of America taxpayer should get half the benefit.”
Speaking to reporters, Trump escalated his dangerous rhetoric following Kirk’s killing, saying, “We have radical left lunatics out there and we just have to beat the hell out of them.”
House Democrats sent a letter to the inspector general of the Federal Housing Finance Agency requesting a review of director Bill Pulte’s mortgage fraud allegations against Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. In the letter, the lawmakers asked the IG to “review all the circumstances and activities” related to the agency’s acquisition and review of Cook’s mortgage application, along with “any announcements, statements, and release of documents related to this matter in order to determine whether any statutory, regulatory, or agency policies may have been violated.”
Trump asked a federal appeals court to immediately pause a lower court ruling that blocked his firing of Lisa Cook, and requested a ruling by Monday, which is one day before the Fed’s board starts meeting to vote on whether to lower interest rates. Cook will be able to attend the meeting if the block on her firing remains in place.
Bloomberg reported on a trove of Epstein emails from his personal Yahoo account that hadn’t been made public until now, which largely shed light on his partnership with Maxwell. In one email from Sept. 2006, two months after Epstein was charged in Florida with solicitation of prostitution, Maxwell sent Epstein a list of 51 people, including politicians, business executives, and Wall Street powerbrokers, writing, “Pls review list and add or remove peeps.” Epstein responded, “Remove trump.” A White House spokesperson called the article “more stupid, fake news playing into the hands of the Democrat Hox trying to link” Trump and Epstein.
A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting dozens of Guatemalan and Honduran children who came to the US alone, extending her order until at least Sept. 26. The judge also raised concerns about whether the government made arrangements for the children’s parents or legal guardians to take custody of them.
On Twitter, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau announced that the State Department will “undertake appropriate action” against immigrants who are “praising, rationalizing, or making light” of Charlie Kirk’s killing on social media, saying they “are not welcome visitors to our country.” He also called on Twitter users to report immigrants who have made such comments.
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced to over 27 years in prison after the country’s Supreme Court found him guilty of plotting a coup d’état following his loss in the 2022 election. Trump, who has called Bolsonaro’s prosecution a “witch hunt,” compared the former president to himself, telling reporters, “It’s very much like they tried to do with me, but they didn’t get away with it.”
The Trump administration told the New York Times it had ordered the destruction of nearly $10 million worth of birth control pills and other contraceptives meant to go to individuals in low-income countries, even though several international organizations offered to buy them or accept them as donations. The estimated cost to destroy the products was $167,000. Authorities in Belgium, where the products were being held, later told the Times that the stockpile hadn’t been destroyed yet.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox warned about a “tremendous amount” of disinformation circulating on social media in relation to Charlie Kirk’s killing.
Senate Republicans broke precedent by changing a rule to lower the existing 60-vote threshold for considering a group of presidential nominees to a simple majority, further eroding the filibuster in the process and making it more difficult for individual senators to block specific nominees.
Several historically Black colleges and universities in the South were put on lockdown and had classes canceled after receiving “potential threats to campus safety.” Meanwhile, Capitol Police responded to a “potential security concern” at the Democratic National Committee headquarters, which turned out to be a non-credible bomb threat.
A federal appeals court cleared the way for the Trump administration to move forward with blocking Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood as part of the president’s tax and spending bill passed in July.
Friday, September 12
During a one-hour interview on Fox, Trump announced that a 22-year-old suspect in the killing of Charlie Kirk had been taken into custody, and once again called for “quick trials,” saying that suspects who are caught on tape “should have a trial the following day.” The suspect was later named as Tyler Robinson.
Also during the interview, Trump falsely said he could “change the mayor” of DC if he wants, claimed Chicago is “worse than Afghanistan,” and ludicrously said that “California doesn’t have ballot boxes.” Additionally, he accused, without evidence, the Jan. 6 Select Committee of “burn[ing] all the information because we were right on everything.” He claimed that “radicals on the right oftentimes are radical because they don’t want to see crime. The radicals on the left are the problem.” He also said his administration is going to “look into” Jewish billionaire and Democratic Party donor George Soros, adding he believes “it’s a RICO case against him and other people.”
Trump announced that Memphis, Tennessee, will be his administration’s next target of a National Guard deployment to fight crime, saying, “We’re going to fix that just like we did Washington.” He added, “I would’ve preferred going to Chicago … we’ll bring in the military too if we need it.”
Reuters reported that the Trump administration is planning to propose significant restrictions on the right to asylum at the United Nations later this month. The proposed framework would require asylum seekers to claim protection in the first country they enter, rather than a country of their choosing. Additionally, asylum would be temporary, and the country providing asylum would be able to determine whether conditions in home countries have improved enough for their return.
The Washington Postreported that Trump health officials are planning to link COVID-19 vaccines to the deaths of 25 children based on information submitted to the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, which contains unverified reports of side effects from vaccines that can be submitted by anyone. The move comes as the Trump administration considers limiting who can get the COVID-19 vaccine.
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s policy that directed immigration judges to dismiss deportation cases, a move that has resulted in ICE arresting immigrants in and around courthouses.
Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it would move to end a 15-year-old program that requires thousands of polluters to report the amount of greenhouse gases they emit, with EPA administrator Lee Zeldin saying in a statement that the program “is nothing more than bureaucratic red tape.”
CBS News reported that the US Secret Service put an agent on leave after writing a Facebook post about Charlie Kirk’s killing, noting he “spewed hate and racism on his show.” In a memo, the Secret Service director said that members “must be focused on being the solution, not adding to the problem.”
Lisa Cook, the Federal Reserve governor who Trump tried to fire over allegations of mortgage fraud, listed the Atlanta property at the center of those allegations as a “vacation home,” according to a document reviewed by Reuters. The 2021 document, says Reuters, “appears to counter other documentation that Cook’s critics have cited in support of their claims that she committed mortgage fraud.”
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Raphael Satter / Reuters: Charlie Kirk's allies warn Americans: Mourn him properly or else — Republicans warn against mocking Kirk's death, threaten dire consequences — At least 13 people fired or suspended for allegedly disrespecting Kirk's memory — Online campaigns directed by Republicans continue to target Kirk's critics online
Megan Messerly / Politico: Trump is selling a strong economy. Voters aren't buying it. … “That's a thing that I know the White House political team is nervous about because there's a reality and there's a perception. And the reality is the economy is doing fine and the perception is people are still worried …
Jamelle Bouie / New York Times: Charlie Kirk Didn't Shy Away From Who He Was. We Shouldn't Either. — Virtually every person of note in American politics has, rightfully, condemned the horrific killing of Charlie Kirk and expressed their deep concerns about the growing incidence of political violence in the United States.
Wall Street Journal: Deportation Blowback in South Korea — More foreign investment will require more U.S. temporary visas, as there aren't enough American workers. — Still think mass deportation has no economic or political consequences? The fallout from last week's blunderbuss raid on a Hyundai plant …
Thomas Chatterton Williams / The Atlantic: The Right Is Changing the Rules of the Culture War — For conservatives, cancel culture is in. — Christopher rufo took six months to contradict his own advice. In February, the conservative activist wrote that social-media posts “should no longer be grounds for automatic social and professional annihilation.”
Emily Peck / Axios: Why foreign travelers are avoiding the U.S. — Like a lot of Canadians, Jorge Aranda stopped coming to the United States this year. “I don't want to pretend that everything's OK,” he tells Axios. … - The U.S. could see 8.2% fewer international arrivals in 2025, per a forecast last month …
With not a single empty seat in the crowd, hundreds gathered at Washington DC’s Georgetown University for a screening of Zeteo’s documentary, ‘Gaza: Doctors Under Attack,’which the BBC refused to air. The screening of the documentary, produced by Basement Films, was followed by a panel discussion with Mehdi and California trauma surgeon Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, who recently came back from Gaza. The panel was moderated by the Director of the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Nader Hashemi.
“I wish it wasn't a Zeteo film,” Mehdi opened by saying of the documentary. “It was supposed to have aired on the BBC, and yet the BBC decided, under pressure from all sorts of institutions, individuals, groups, that they couldn't run this film.”
Dr. Sidhwa, who has been to Gaza twice since the genocide started and is planning for his third visit later this year, explained to the audience the realities of being a doctor in Gaza that our film couldn’t show. “You can only show so much in an hour,” said the trauma surgeon. “One thing it doesn't show is their struggle to survive.”
The doctor shared personal experiences from his trips to Gaza, including the killing of one of his child patients while he was being treated, the difficulty of getting into the occupied strip, and testimonies from Palestinian doctors who cannot leave.
“I fly in for two weeks, and I fly out, and I pat myself on the back, and then I go eat a big cheeseburger. But these folks are there literally just all the time. And there's countless stories of physicians working in the ER when their whole family is brought in dead,” Dr. Sidhwa recounts.
Audience members got to take part in the conversation by putting their own questions to the panel, which ranged from what they can do to fight Israel’s brutality, how Dr. Sidhwa prepares for his trips to Gaza, and where Israel’s red lines are drawn, among many others.
Mehdi, as ever, didn’t hold back in his scathing critique of both Israel’s genocidal government and our own complicit mainstream media!
Paid subscribers can watch the full discussion above. Free subscribers can watch a three-minute preview. Do consider becoming a paid subscriber to Zeteo and never hitting another paywall again!
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