During a press conference near rubble in Tel Aviv on Sunday, reporter Secunder Kermani of Britain's Channel 4 News acknowledged that "Khomeini, the Iranian regime, have clearly done terrible things, particularly to their own people."
"But your Prime Minister is a wanted war criminal. You don't have the moral high ground here at all," he said.
"This is a war crime!" the Israeli spokesperson shouted. "This is a war crime! Targeting civilians, targeting elderly women, killing, murdering her caregiver from the Philippines."
"What about the hundred or so schoolgirls in Iran that are being killed in a strike at that?" Kermani asked.
"Yes, next question, please," the spokesperson replied. "Let's allow others."
Demonstrators in Karachi, Pakistan, reportedly left at least 9 dead when they tried to storm the U.S. consulate there.
Authorities told the Associated Press that the violence was in response to President Donald Trump's decision to order strikes on Iran that were said to have killed the country's supreme leader.
Police surgeon Summaiya Syed Tariq confirmed to AP that initially six dead bodies were being held at the main government hospital. She later said that nine people had died.
"Witnesses said that dozens of Shiite protesters remained gathered about a kilometer (half-mile) from the consulate, urging others to join them," AP reported. "They said one of the protesters had tried to burn a window of the consulate, before security forces arrived there and dispersed the demonstrators."
Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin admitted that President Donald Trump's strikes on Iran were "dangerous" because he left some of the country's "A team" alive.
"Jennifer, there's been a lot of people commenting at the level of intel that the U.S. and especially Israel had prior to this attack, that it's really been impressive," Fox & Friends host Rachel Campos-Duffy argued on Sunday morning. "So they've taken out this leadership."
"You talk about the leaders that are left behind. Based on the intel that they have me, do they think that this B team or I don't, maybe this is the C team that's left behind?" she continued. "Are they, do they have the ability, the authority, the capacity to do what the A team could do?"
"Well, I think, first of all, Ali Larijani would be part of the A team," Griffin explained of a surviving Iranian leader. "So some of the A team did survive."
"And that is what's dangerous in these kinds of strikes," she added.
Saturday Night Live was quick to put together a cold open late Saturday with “Weekend Update” co-anchor Colin Jost reprising his angry Pete Hegseth impersonation, where he first admitted he was pumped about “Operation Epic Fury,” including having it tattooed on his knuckles — and then admitting he was over his head.
With James Austin Johnson’s Donald Trump first announcing, “It’s me, Donald Trump, FIFA Peace Prize winner and Nobel Peace Prize taker, remember that?” he then continued, ”I launched this attack after me and my board of peace ... we were bored of peace. A little wordplay there, did you catch it?”
“As we all know, Iran has been two weeks away from developing a nuclear weapon for like the last 15 years or something. So we had to act now, and we’re doing war,” he added.
After more Trump rambling he introduced Jost’s Hegseth as "the man I’m going to blame [the bombing attack] on when it doesn’t work.”
“What’s up, dillweeds?” Jost shouted. “They asked for someone to volunteer to receive his half-baked operation, and I didn’t walk — I ran. President Trump called me at two in the morning, and you know, I was awake and sober AF.”
After more hyped up shouting he admitted, “I am scared, and I don’t know what I’m doing. When [Trump] said we were going to blow up the leader of Iran, I thought he was kidding.”
“Bottom line, all of you should be thanking us. We took out a horrendous, horrible leader who was oppressing his own people—” he continued whch led Johnson’s Trump to interject, “But don’t get any ideas.”
One of President Donald Trump's fiercest loyalists appeared to play a key part in burying the administration's latest scandal, according to two experts.
Last week, it was reported that Department of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer's husband, Shawn DeRemer, had been barred from the agency's office in Washington, D.C., after he was accused of sexually assaulting a female employee. That step is extraordinary in and of itself, but even more so considering that DeRemer has not been charged with a crime.
The Washington Metropolitan Police Department concluded its investigation on Thursday and found insufficient evidence to substantiate the allegations against DeRemer. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, a former Fox News host, also declined to bring charges against DeRemer.
Even so, Pirro appeared to play a central role in making the whole thing go away, according to Legal "Diva" Melba Pearson and former Florida state attorney Dave Aronberg, who discussed the scandal on the latest episode of the "Legal AF" podcast.
Pearson noted that Pirro's decision not to bring charges was questionable, given that the agency had decided to prohibit DeRemer from being on the premises.
"What perturbs me is that Jeannie Piro ... she's like, 'Yeah, I saw the tape. Nothing doing.' which under normal circumstances, I would take the prosecutor's side," Pearson said.
"Why would you ban him from the building if there was nothing to see?" she added.
Pearson added that the Department of Labor did not bring in an outside investigator to look into the allegations against DeRemer. Instead, that duty fell to the agency's Inspector General, she said.
Aronberg said the episode made him question how the accuser could get a fair shot at justice at all.
"The number one criterion for Trump is not job performance, it's loyalty," he said.
The U.S. and Iranian Ambassadors to the United Nations squared off during an emergency meeting on Saturday.
The U.N Security Council held an emergency meeting to discuss the U.S. and Israel's coordinated attackagainst Iran. Reports indicate Israel bombed multiple sites where Iran's political and military leadership were located, which killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the dictator who had ruled the country since 1989. The U.S struck multiple Iranian ballistic and nuclear missile sites, according to reports.
During the meeting, the U.S. Ambassador, Mike Waltz, sharply criticized Iran for its history of killing its citizens and for chanting "death to America at every opening of its Parliament." The Iranian Ambassador, Amir-Saeid Iravani, and other representatives from Middle Eastern countries accused the U.S. of violating international law by carrying out the strikes.
At the end of the testy exchange, Iravani lobbed a threat at Waltz.
"I would advise the US representative to be polite! It would be better for yourself and the country you represent," Iravani said, throwing his headset onto the table.
Waltz offered a terse reply.
"I am not going to dignify this with another response, especially as this representative represents a regime that has killed tens of thousands of its own people and imprisoned many more simply for wanting freedom from your tyranny," Waltz said.
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) lashed out at his former GOP House colleague Saturday after being confronted on CNN with the considerable MAGA opposition to the Trump administration’s unprecedented attack on Iran earlier in the day.
That colleague was former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who spent a considerable amount of time Saturday morning condemning President Donald Trump for having authorized the strikes on Iran, strikes that have sparked fears of a wider war, economic crises and untold civilian casualties.
When asked about Greene’s opposition on CNN, Lawler immediately dismissed his former House colleague.
“This is the same woman who speculated about Jewish space lasers; I don't take anything she has to say about foreign policy seriously, and frankly, I think she's one of the dumbest people to have ever served in Congress,” Lawler said. “So I really couldn't care less what thought she offers on this situation.”
The CNN host pushed back on Lawler’s dismissal, noting that beyond Greene, a number of MAGA followers have voiced opposition to the attack.
“Sure, there are people across the broad spectrum of politics in both parties that have different perspectives,” Lawler admitted.
“From my vantage point, if you want peace and stability – not just in the Middle East, but around the globe – you need to take action. The fact is, Iran, China and Russia have been engaged in an unholy alliance that has sought to undermine and destabilize the U.S., Israel, Europe and the free world.”
The veteran operative pretended to take over an anchor's desk, transforming himself into a one-man election-night extravaganza complete with imaginary correspondents reporting from battleground states.
In Carville's fever dream scenario, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) tanked 16 points behind in early returns, with her staff reportedly describing her as merely "concerned." Meanwhile, Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) cruised to a massive Pennsylvania reelection victory as Democrats flipped North Carolina and Florida.
Carville brutally mocked Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), imagining him losing to Democrat Annie Andrews.
"Oh my God! You mean Dr. Annie Andrews is going to defeat the sycophant, the pliable, the idiotic, the gross Lindsey Graham?" he asked his fictional correspondent.
The skit's grand finale featured Carville's most vivid fictional reporting yet: an alleged White House meltdown.
"Trump is in the Lincoln Bedroom throwing feces at the wall! I know he throws ketchup at the wall — but this is the first time that we've had reports of him throwing actual s--- at the wall. That seems to be the kind of mood he's in," Carville fantasized.
Carville's theatrics caused a social media stir.
"NEW: James Carville GOES OFF RAILS with *BIZARRE* 2026 election night fantasy," remarked The Daily Caller's Jason Cohen on X.
Canadian Sen. Charles Adler wrote on X, "Political commentary attracts a herd that doesn't just look dull. James Carville doesn't have Hollywood looks. But after 4 decades of life, he still throws an exceptional slider."
Brenda Swanson chimed in, "Well now we need another Straight Jacket for sure. They are all LIBERAL NUTS. GO TRUMP"
🚨NEW: James Carville GOES OFF RAILS with *BIZARRE* 2026 election night fantasy💩
"Trump is in the Lincoln Bedroom throwing FECES at the wall! I know he throws ketchup at the wall — but this is the first time that we've had reports of him throwing actual SH*T!"@DailyCallerpic.twitter.com/rlLU87luY9 — Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) February 27, 2026
President Donald Trump has an easy scapegoat to throw under the bus if he continues to feel the heat from the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking scandal, New York Times reporter Michelle Goldberg told MS NOW's Ari Melber on Friday: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Lutnick, a billionaire who has been at the forefront of defending Trump's tariff policies, has been caught lying about the extent of his relationship with the deceased financier pedophile, and even top GOP lawmakers are suggesting he could be brought in for questioning.
"I think the fact that they did them behind closed doors goes to the fact that they wanted to use them to either divert attention from Donald Trump and his allies, but didn't actually expect there to be any moments that were going to help them advance their side of the story," said Goldberg. "If they did, they would have wanted this to happen in public. They would have wanted to make a circus out of it."
"I also, I think — I also think we have to say that Bill Clinton's statement about how he never, never knew, I believe him, maybe that he never saw anything going on," said Goldberg. "But he said, you know,it's testament, something tothe effect of it's testament tohow well Epstein hid his crimes.He didn't hide them that well.You know, there was a reasonthat back when Bill Clinton wasjetting around with Epstein,they called the plane theLolita Express. And so, youknow, even though I'm sure someof your viewers are BillClinton fans, I don't thinkthat we should take everythinghe said here at face value."
"I think that's a good point," said Goldberg. "And so with the under a minute I have left, where does this go? The pressure is clearly building, including the details I mentioned."
"Well, yeah, I mean, I think the Lutnick, the pressure is going to continue to build on Lutnick again because he was caught red-handed in a lie, whatever his relationship was or wasn't with Epstein," said Goldberg. "He told this elaborate lie about cutting ties with him that we now know was blatantly untrue. And I think, you know, there's people on the right who see him as a clown or a distraction. So I imagine that he's one of the more vulnerable people in the Trump administration."
Former Republican strategist Tim Miller slammed the emerging deal for the Trump-friendly media giant Paramount-Skydance to take control of the parent company of HBO and CNN in a panel on MS NOW Friday evening — and called it an affront to how anything should be working in a fair and competitive media market.
"Tim Miller, your thoughts on where this stands this afternoon?" asked anchor Nicolle Wallace.
"We could do about an hour on this, Nicolle. There's so many layers," said Miller. "Because, you know, I think that the initial reaction everybody has is right, which is I think that with concerns about the consolidation of media corporations in the hands of Trump's allies, right? And what that means for CNN, that matters to a lot of people. I feel pretty happy that The Bulwark is independent."
"There are elements of the corruption of this deal that I think are kind of, get lost a little bit in this that I just want to talk about," said Miller. "I mean, for starters ... this is not how things work in a functioning democracy. This isn't how things work in a functioning capitalist system either. Like this isn't really capitalism, right? It's an oligarchy, right? Yeah. What about this? Discovery has a ton of debt, a massive amount of debt ... and more debt than Paramount has in money. So how is Paramount buying this, right? Netflix has enough money to buy this. How is Paramount buying it? Well, they're debt financing it from the dad of the nepobaby, Larry Ellison, the friend of Trump, one of the richest guys in the world, and from a bunch of foreign countries, Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia."
What this means, he said, is "it's a bunch of foreign entities and Trump's oligarch buddy that are debt financing this company because they want to control the media outlet like that."
"It is not as you know, it's not as if, oh, Trump just put his thumb on the scale, you know, and kind of an Even-Steven situation because he liked one owner better than the other," Miller continued. "That would be bad, you know, that would be a banana republic type situation. But it's far worse than that. This, the scale of it. And then you lay in the free speech side of this, that how are you going to act if you're a board member of some other multinational who might have issues before the government over the next year or two, after you've just watched what happened this week where Susan Rice talks on a podcast and the next thing you know, the President of the United States threatening her to get fired and, you know, helping the end of the rule of law, which is essentially what Trump ran on."
Miller hoped his co-panelists were correct that state attorneys general, like California's Rob Bonta, would still step in to investigate the deal. But don't expect anything federally, he added, because "Trump makes clear in news cycle after news cycle that the DOJ in Washington works for him."
CNN's Harry Enten was astounded Friday when he revealed how recent polling results show just how much President Donald Trump's approval rating has plummeted.
Enten pointed out that Trump has maintained a consistent slump for almost a year, putting him and the Republican Party in a tough spot ahead of the midterm elections.
"I think it's so important to note when you look at Trump's net approval rating," Enten said. "It's been negative in the recent polling, but it just hasn't been the recent polling. Look at this, look at how long his approval rating has been negative. It's been nearly a year. We're talking over 345 days in the red. And with independents, it's even been worse. I mean, overall approval rating has been between -10 and -20 points. The past few polls, if you take an average of them, but if you look among independents, he's been floating at about -30 points. Oftentimes, the numbers with independents have been absolutely awful, and I'm just not quite sure how an administration can be politically alive when you have numbers that are that poor."
Enten said that voters have signaled a strong concern about the economy — a telling sign for how they really feel about the president.
"So why did Donald Trump get reelected back in 2024? Right? It was the economy right? James Carville, 'It's the economy, stupid.' Although I'm with the smarty pants right here in Boris Sanchez," Enten said.
"If you look, if you look at his net approval rating on the economy, look how long it's been negative for. Over 365 days, it's been negative. It's been negative for over a year," Enten said. "So on the issue that he was so strong on in term number one, the issue that got him reelected to the White House, the American people have turned against him. And that is a big reason why of course, they have turned against him overall. And of course his numbers on inflation have even been even worse than on the economy. And of course, inflation sunk the Joe Biden presidency, and it looks like it's sinking the Donald Trump presidency."
Enten also said that polling could give a preview of what's to come in the midterms.
"So I think what's so important to note here is the House," Enten said.
"And this to me gives the entire game away," he explained. "If you look at the Kalshi prediction market at this point, what we see is look at this. We see that the Democrats are overwhelmingly favored to take back the U.S. House of Representatives. It has been right about four and five odds, 4 in 5 chance for a long period of time. And that's not much of a surprise when Donald Trump is as unpopular as he is. That, of course, there's going to be suffering down ballot for Republicans."
But that wasn't the only prediction Enten offered.
"And here's the other thing that I will note," he explained. "It's not just the House that's in trouble. It's the Senate as well. And that to me is so interesting because this entire time you look at that map, you say, 'okay you know, Republicans, a lot of these seats, Democrats need to win they're in Republican states. But in fact, it turns out according to Kalshi, we're dealing with right now, Democrats chances on the rise about two and five."
As House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) spoke to reporters about the depositions of the Clintons on their potential connections to the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case, he made a curious statement that, according to MS NOW's Ali Vitali, was an effort to shield President Donald Trump — but also first lady Melania Trump.
"I want to make a statement, because they'll probably not mention this when they come out here," Comer told reporters. "Ranking Member [Robert] Garcia asked President Clinton, quote, 'Should President Trump be called to answer questions from this committee? And President Clinton said, that's for you to decide. And the president went on to say that President Trump 'has never said anything to me to make me think he was involved.'"
"Okay," said anchor Katy Tur. "So, Ali, that was Comer's characterization of what President Clinton said. Congressman Garcia just was speaking a moment ago, and he said that's not quite accurate."
"I think there's two things that struck me," said Vitali. "First is that Democrats keep trying to respect this idea that they are not supposed to talk about the substance of what's happening in these depositions, like truly specifics about what's happening in these depositions until the transcript and video are released. But we've seen now is Republicans and Comer doing a pretty good job of trying to set the narrative of what is said inside."
More broadly, though, she said, Comer's remark "gives us some insight into how he might be thinking about the future of this investigation, is that they are trying to use Bill Clinton as a way to rebut claims from Democrats and others who say, okay, if you got a former president, Bill Clinton, why are you not asking President Trump, who has mentioned hundreds of times in the files, potentially more than any other person in there, or one of the top mentioned people in the files, and Comer by trying to use Clinton to say, well, Clinton says he never had any reason to think that Trump was involved with Epstein. They're basically trying to cut that line of inquiry off at the pass."
But it's not just the president who would be vulnerable to this issue, Vitali added — it would be the first lady as well.
"If the committee wants to ask spouses who don't have insight into their husband's actions, for example, as Hillary Clinton didn't into Bill, then why are you not also asking Melania Trump, who, by the way, is actually pictured in some of the Epstein files and has at least one correspondence with Ghislaine Maxwell, right?" said Vitali, referring to Epstein's primary sex trafficking accomplice. "So it opens up this, this sticky line of partisan questioning. And that's what I saw in Comer, they're trying to rebut."
President Donald Trump defended former President Bill Clinton Friday as Clinton began his sworn deposition before the House Oversight Committee about his relationship with late financier and convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump was preparing to head to Corpus Christi, Texas, for an election event when reporters asked him what he thought of Clinton testifying before lawmakers in a closed-door deposition about his connection to Epstein.
"I don't like seeing him deposed," Trump said. "But you know, they certainly went after me a lot more than that... I like him, and I don't like seeing him deposed."
Trump was also asked if he thinks Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick should also be deposed over his ties to Epstein and questions about their relationship. Republicans have signaled this week that they could also question Lutnick in the ongoing Epstein probe.
"Well, Howard would go in and do whatever he has to say. He's a very innocent guy. He's doing a good job," Trump said.
Trump maintained that he did not have any ties to Epstein, despite his name appearing throughout the Department of Justice's 3 million documents, with him mentioned about 38,000 times.
"I don't know anything about the Epstein files. I've been fully exonerated," Trump said.
Former President Clinton delivered his opening statements Friday under oath and shared a statement on his social media.
"I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong," Clinton said.
Neither the Clintons nor Trump has been accused of any wrongdoing.
