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'Bold and brilliant': Pete Hegseth slathers praise on Trump for Iran strike

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth praised President Donald Trump for his "bold" and "brilliant" leadership in his first press conference since the U.S. military conducted a strike on Iran.

"It was an incredible and overwhelming success," Hegseth told reporters on Sunday. "The order we received from our commander-in-chief was focused, it was powerful, and it was clear. We devastated the Iranian nuclear program."

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'An astonishing double cross': Trump accused of betraying his supporters

Donald Trump's decision to launch an attack on Iran without approval from Congress was hammered by a Democratic senator on MSNBC early Sunday morning as he accused the president of a "double cross" perpetrated on U.S. voters.

Speaking with the hosts of "The Weekend," a fuming Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) harshly criticized the president for exceeding his authority which could put the country on the path to yet another war after making campaign promises to not go down that path.

Asked about a bill he is sponsoring that would deny funding for "any use of military force in or against Iran without specific congressional authorization," Welch replied, "Number one, this was Trump at his most impulsive. Number two, Trump lied to the American people and to his voters promising he would not get us in yet another Middle East war."

"Number three, his own intelligence came to the conclusion that while Iran was enriching uranium, it didn't have the capacity to deliver a weapon," he added. "Number four, [Israeli Prime Minister Bibi] Netanyahu sabotaged the negotiations and Trump willingly acceded to the Netanyahu agenda, which is also about regime change in Iran."

"So this is an astonishing double cross by Donald Trump to his supporters and to his pledge to Americans," he continued. "In my view the last thing we need is a war, another war in the Middle East and I'm one of the many in Congress that are going to be demanding that we vote on this."

You can watch below or at the link.

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'Not what you want to see': CIA expert flags White House tension after bombing

Appearing on MSNBC just hours after Donald Trump ordered a bombing attack on Iran, former CIA official Marc Polymeropoulos stated that amid all the uncertainty about how the attacked country will react is also lingering conflicts within the Trump administration over the move.

Speaking with the hosts of "The Weekend," Polymeropoulos suggested that it is common knowledge that CIA Director John Ratcliffe and DNI head Tulsi Gabbard are not on the same page.

Picking up from an earlier conversation during the show, the retired CIA agent was asked about the "tension" in the White House.

"What role will that play in how the administration thinks about what to do next?" host Jonathan Capehart asked.

"So again, let's start, Jonathan, with the premise that the intelligence community is incredibly important right now," Polymeropoulos replied. "Again, it's the idea of assessing Iranian regime reaction, it's also the notion of, you know, working with our allies overseas to thwart, detect. >> disrupt and deter Iranian terrorist reprisals."

"But we also have the, I think, well-reported dispute between Donald Trump and Tulsi Gabbard, his Director of National Intelligence that I think we haven't focused on and first of all, that's not ideal," he added. "Let's just keep that in mind. What we haven't focused on, though, is that John Ratcliffe, the CIA director, he is the one who made this analogy of the football field that the Iranians have run 99 yards down the field and just had not made that decision to move forward –– that seems to have resonated with Trump."

"But what that says to me is there's also tension between the CIA director and the DNI," he elaborated. "And you kind of put that together... that's not really what you want to see at a time of international crisis again, with the notion that the intelligence community is of absolutely paramount importance now."

You can watch below or at the link.

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'Trump admin is furious' as 'two judges say two different things': ex-prosecutor

"The Trump administration is furious" as it sees "two different judges saying two different things" in a major case, according to a former prosecutor.

Former State Attorney for Palm Beach County Dave Aronberg appeared on MSNBC on Saturday, where he was asked about Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and legal permanent resident who returned this weekend after he spent more than three months detained by the federal government under Trump.

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'Petty and unserious' Vance complaints slapped aside by Padilla after LA visit

During an appearance on MSNBC's "The Weekend" on Saturday, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) didn't seem to have any interest or respect for Vice President J.D. Vance who made a brief stopover in Los Angeles on Friday to attempt to defend Donald Trump deploying the military to put down unrest that is almost nonexistent.

Speaking with reporters, Vance decided to call the California lawmaker "José Padilla" and stated he had hoped the lawmaker "would be here to ask a question."

"But, unfortunately, I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn’t the theater, and that’s all it is. It’s pure political theater. These guys show up. They want to be captured on camera doing something," the vice president complained in front of the cameras.

Given a chance to respond to the deliberate misnaming on MSNBC, since the two served in the Senate together, Padilla told the hosts, "He knows my name. Look, sadly it’s just an indicator of how petty and unserious this administration is. He’s the vice president of the United States. You’d think he’d take the situation in Los Angeles more seriously.”

"You know, you'd think maybe he'd take a moment to talk to some of the families who have been impacted, have been terrorized to feel what's really going on on the ground," he pointed out. "And you saw him shaking hands with Marines, but did he listen to the Marines? Because we have, you know, report after report of the Marines, so many of the Marines themselves that don't want to be there. That's not why they enlisted ."

You can watch below or at the link.

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Watch: CNN's Cupp snaps at Scott Jennings for blowing off suicide hotline cuts

CNN contributor Scott Jennings got a dressing down and a lecture on Saturday morning after defending cuts the Donald Trump administration is making to the national suicide hotline, singling out the “Press 3” option on the national 988 hotline aimed at the LGBTQ+ community for shuttering.

On Tuesday, the Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration announced the shutdown planned to go into effect on July 17.

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Scott Jennings busted on CNN for resurrecting lie about Sen. Padilla

Conservative Scott Jennings was called out on CNN Saturday morning after he frantically attacked Sen. Alex Padilla and repeated debunked claims about the California Democrat who was tackled and handcuffed as he tried to question DHS head Kristi Noem.

Reacting to Vice President J.D. Vance briefly flying to California to hold a press conference where he accused Democrats of engaging in political "theater," Jennings ran with that talking point until called out by CNN's Van Jones and former President Joe Biden official Dan Koh.

During the CNN "Table for Five" segment, Jones could be seen in a split screen shaking his head as Jennings ranted, "I mean, it's sort of like porn for their base. There's a lot of capital right now in the Democratic party for getting arrested. In the case of Padilla, who if you handed me $10 million right now, if I could pick him out of a lineup, I don't think I could do it."

He added, "Charging into a press conference, lunging towards a stage. I mean, I'm sorry, but screaming that 'I'm a senator, I'm a senator. I don't know who you are. I still don't know who the guy is. And so that's not good enough. He's a U.S. senator. If he wanted a meeting with her, he could have had one and he did get one as soon as it was over with."

After Jennings claimed, "The theater kids have taken over and they are desperate to create theater," Koh straightened him out.

"It was in a government building, a federal government building," he told the Kentucky conservative. "He is one of two senators in California. I think Mitch McConnell would be recognized throughout Kentucky. Alex Padilla was in his home state in a federal building and the thing that concerned me the most was not necessarily that part, which was already concerning, but when ICE tweeted it, ICE clearly said that he did not identify himself and tweeted a video where he clearly did. What kind of confidence should we have in our government with any communication from the trump administration going forward? "

Jones piled on with, "I see it differently than you do, but I just want to just lay out a couple of things here. The reason that people, and not just the one who was arrested, are escorting immigrants, not illegals, immigrants, into these buildings and out is because the rule followers, not the gang members, the people who are here on legal status, who have legal status who are going to hearings, trying to follow the rules, are themselves getting snatched up and deported in a way that has never happened before."

You can watch below or at the link.

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'What?' MSNBC host baffled by Trump response as his poll numbers crater

During a discussion about Donald Trump's plummeting poll numbers across the board as his policies are being implemented after only 150 days in office, MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart was taken aback by how the president responded about the economy during an NBC interview.

Speaking with MSNBC contributor April Ryan and journalist Dave Weigel on "The Weekend" about the president being underwater with voters over the economy, Capehart shared a clip of the president being interviewed by Kristin Welker on "Meet the Press."

Asked by Welker, "You’ve been arguing all week that this is President Biden’s economy. Is this now your economy, sir?" Trump replied, " Well, I think certain aspects of it are. Costs are. I was able to get down the costs. But even that, it takes a while to get them down, but we got them down good. We lost 5 to 6 billion dollars a day with Biden. Five to 6 billion. And I’ve got that down to a great number right now in a very — in a record time."

That led a puzzled Capehart to state, "What?" and then laugh.

"Alright, this president is tone-deaf when it comes to saving," Ryan contributed. "He doesn't cut coupons and he's cutting out Medicare and Medicaid. They're going to be a lot of rural hospitals they're going to lose, lose out, we're going to lose a lot of rural hospitals that rural communities need."

"But here's the bottom line," she continued. "When you are paying for all of these military and National Guards over in California and calling Alex Padilla, Senator Alex Padilla, 'Jose,' and then when you're also paying for what else? A big military parade on your birthday that you fell asleep on and you're talking about saving costs, there's some kind of contradiction. It doesn't marry, it doesn't marry at all."

You can watch below or at the link.

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'Elephant in the room': Analyst singles out alarming detail as Trump mulls war

Donald Trump's decision to insert himself into the growing conflict between Israel and Iran has set off alarms with one MSNBC analyst who stated on Saturday morning that the president is ill-informed on the region that could be plunged into a full-scale war.

Appearing on MSNBC's "The Weekend," longtime White House correspondent April Ryan noted that there is an "elephant in the room" that should concern everyone as the president kicks the can down the road for a reported two weeks as mulls the U.S. response..

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'Racist piece of trash': JD Vance’s attack backfires over ‘Jose Padilla’ gaffe

The internet erupted Friday evening after Vice President JD Vance misidentified Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) during a news conference in Los Angeles.

Vance's comments were in response to a question from a reporter asking for comment about the numerous instances where Democratic lawmakers have been detained or arrested by ICE agents at protests and in immigration courts. The reporter asked whether those instances are evidence of whether President Donald Trump's administration is "cracking down on Democrats."

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GOP senator admits he has 'minimal evidence' to support right-wing conspiracy

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) was forced to admit Friday on "The Benny Show" that he had little evidence to support a right-wing theory that the Chinese government conspired to interfere in the 2020 election — and then blamed Joe Biden for a cover-up.

To introduce the topic, MAGA podcaster Benny Johnson said Congress had "credible whistleblowers" showing the Chinese government was trying to "put fake IDs into the system here, in this country in order to rig the mail-in balloting process, which makes a ton of sense to us knowing how loose those systems and securities were."

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'Do you know you're in danger?' Trump gives ominous warning to press corps

President Donald Trump gave an ominous warning to reporters who gathered on the Morristown Municipal Airport tarmac in New Jersey to ask questions on Friday.

One reporter asked if the president was concerned that Iran would wage terror attacks against American targets abroad if he ordered military strikes.

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'They would never': Trump whines he'll never get a Nobel Peace Prize

President Donald Trump complained on Friday that he did not receive a Nobel Peace Prize for his work to normalize economic ties between Serbia and Kosovo during his first administration.

Trump made the comments during a news conference in Morristown, New Jersey, before boarding Marine One.

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