President Donald Trump warned that members of the January 6th Committee would pay a "very steep price" after claiming that investigative materials were destroyed.
"Can anyone believe that the Unselect Committee of Political Hacks and Thugs illegally and criminally deleted and destroyed all information having to do with their 'investigation' into January 6th?" Trump railed in a Tuesday post to Truth Social.
"The reason they did this is because it all came out my way. I was proven innocent, and they were proven to be liars and cheats," he added. "They must be held accountable, and pay A VERY STEEP PRICE!"
Legal advocates celebrated Friday’s abrupt resignation of Trump ally Julianne Murray as U.S. attorney in Delaware, calling it another blow to the president’s efforts to bypass Senate confirmation rules. On their podcast, Norm Eisen and Kate Phang said Murray stepped aside after a key 3rd Circuit ruling undercut similar interim appointments, including that of Alina Habba.
Editor Mark Guiducci described the behind-the-scenes dynamics of the shoot, referencing jokes about job security and decisions regarding which close aides should be included in the coverage.
A visit to Leavitt's office prompted Guiducci to comment on her decor and the presence of a uniformed guard stationed to tend to the fireplace in the 28-year-old press secretary's workspace.
Guiducci included a subtle jab at Leavitt regarding her well-documented aversion to factual accuracy. He wrote that he was accompanied by photographer Christopher Anderson, deputy editor Claire Howorth, global creative director Jennifer Pastore, assistants Benjamin Coppola and Trip Peters, and interviewer Chris Whipple.
"Karoline Leavitt was ready for us. Leavitt has brought revolution to the White House press briefing room, prevaricating on everything from tariffs and soybean sales to condom contracts and Tylenol."
Guiducci described Leavitt's office as featuring a working fireplace with a uniformed guard to light it, along with décor elements including an American flag throw blanket and seasonal pumpkin pillows. He noted sardonically, "The decor—an American flag throw blanket, seasonal pumpkin pillows—invoked a certain 'Live, Laugh, Lie' homeyness."
On her desk, Guiducci observed a Stanley cup, a floral coffee mug, and a pink calendar with daily aphorisms. Below framed photographs of the president with Leavitt and her family sat a white orchid, a pink globe, and a Bible opened to Proverbs 4: "Get wisdom at all costs."
Members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet apparently knew ahead of time that their photo shoot with Vanity Fair was a bad idea, even joking amongst each other that they may lose their jobs over the photo session, Vanity Fair reported Tuesday.
"We’re all going to get fired for this!” one of Trump’s cabinet members said, according to Vanity Fair, shortly after seven of Trump’s top officials filed into a White House room “a bit like nervous schoolchildren.”
“Except for me!” Vance apparently quipped in response. “I have 100% job security!”
The Trump administration continues to face fallout from Vanity Fair’s reporting Tuesday, which, in addition to a batch of new photographs of top Trump officials, also included stunning remarks from White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles that criticized Vance and other top White House officials, as well as undercut Trump’s past statements over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Vanity Fair Editorial Director Mark Guiducci detailed the photo shoot further in his reporting, highlighting the at times awkward atmosphere of the session.
“Stephen Miller’s gaze is like a laser beam, and his calculated manner of speaking made me think of HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey,” Guiducci wrote. “We photographed him in front of a painting of Native Americans: Crossing the River Platte, by Worthington Whittredge… Miller balked at the idea of sitting on the end of the table – ‘not natural,’ he declared.”
Donald Trump's Truth Social post commenting on the death of film director Rob Reiner highlights the president's "thirst for political violence," an analyst claimed Tuesday.
Writing in The Bulwarks' Morning Shots newsletter, Mona Charen suggested Trump had a lust for political violence which had exposed itself in his Truth Social post. The president had reacted to the death of Reiner and wife Michele Singer Reiner after the pair were found dead at their home on Sunday.
Trump's first statement regarding Reiner's death read, "A very sad thing happened last night in Hollywood. Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS."
"He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness, and with the Golden Age of America upon us, perhaps like never before. May Rob and Michele rest in peace!"
Charen wrote, "So powerful is his thirst for political violence that he not only fails to recoil from it when it breaks out; he fantasizes that it’s taking place even when it isn’t."
"There’s zero reason to believe Reiner’s murder had anything to do with his political opposition to Trump. But the president says this is true for the same reason he says many false things are true: because he wants it to be true."
The political commentator would go on to suggest Trump's comment on the death of Reiner highlighted how he had a "breathtaking moral depravity" to him.
Charen added, "Has there ever been a simpler encapsulation of the Trump era? We suffer through daily reminders of the weakness of the president’s mind, but the United States has muddled along with other dim presidents. Where Trump occupies a category all his own is in his breathtaking moral depravity."
Moderate House Republicans concerned about re-election next year have been pushing for a vote to extend the Obamacare premium subsidies, but Speaker Mike Johnson is strongly opposed. House Democrats need only four Republicans to cross the aisle and sign their discharge petition, which would force a vote on the House floor — and Democrats may get exactly what they want.
That’s according to Punchbowl News and its co-founder, Jake Sherman.
“This week,” Sherman wrote, “was designed to give House Republicans a way to push back on Democratic attacks that they’re indifferent to skyrocketing health care costs hitting millions of Americans. Instead, the House GOP leadership has facilitated an untimely — and particularly nasty — intraparty brawl, pitting moderates against Republican Party leaders and further strengthening Democrats’ political hand as the Obamacare cliff looms.”
Speaker Johnson is “pushing” moderate Republicans “into the arms of Democrats,” Sherman added, “as the House Republican leadership refuses to allow the centrists a vote on extending the enhanced Obamacare premium subsidies.”
One moderate Republican, Sherman also reported, U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) “stood up in a House Republican Conference meeting and said that not having an up-or-down vote on extending the enhanced Obamacare subsidies is malpractice.”
He also reported that many moderate Republicans “share this sentiment.”
“They feel like they have to have a vote and the conference won’t give it to them. Driving them into the arms of democrats.”
Sherman explained that by refusing to allow the vote, Republicans have delivered a “political advantage” to the Democrats. If just four House Republicans sign Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ discharge petition, “Democrats have exacted the precise policy win they’ve been seeking, even if that never becomes law.”
President Donald Trump announced plans to give an "address to the nation" on Wednesday night but did not explain why.
"My Fellow Americans: I will be giving an ADDRESS TO THE NATION tomorrow night, LIVE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE, at 9 P.M. EST. I look forward to "seeing" you then. It has been a great year for our Country, and THE BEST IS YET TO COME!" the president wrote Tuesday on his Truth Social platform.
Police are still investigating the Brown University attack for possible motivations, while Australian officials are describing the massacre at Bondi Beach — a popular attraction about four miles from the Sydney Central Business District — as an antisemitic terrorist attack. At least 15 people were killed at Bondi Beach, but the attack could have been even deadlier were it not for Ahmed Al Ahmed — a Syrian immigrant and Muslim who fearlessly tackled and disarmed the shooter and is now recovering in a Sydney hospital.
The fact that el Ahmed is a Muslim hasn't received a lot of attention from right-wing media outlets. In an article published on December 16, The New Republic's Aaron Regunberg cites the Bondi Beach shooting as an example of the "MAGA conspiracy machine" distorting major news stories.
"Increasingly, it seems like every high-profile event with potential political ramifications — certainly shootings, but also, climate disasters, elections, and more — gets poisoned by the right’s toxically mendacious content amplification system," Regunberg laments. "This week, it's been occurring on multiple fronts simultaneously, with Grok spreading the lie that the hero in the antisemitic mass shooting at Sydney's Bondi Beach was Christian, despite media confirmation that the man, Ahmed Al Ahmed, was a Muslim immigrant originally from Syria."
Although the Brown University shooting is still being investigated, Regunberg observes, right-wing media outlets are quickly jumping to conclusions.
"The gunman shouted something — students who were present have reported that they don’t know what he said — and then fired more than 40 rounds at the assembled group, injuring nine students and killing two people: Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, an 18-year-old immigrant from Uzbekistan who grew up in Virginia, and Ella Cook, a 19-year-old Alabaman who was vice president of the Brown College Republicans," Regunberg explains. "This is more or less all we know. Right-wingers have filled this void with a baseless narrative that Cook was, as the chairman of the College Republicans put it in a post on X with nearly two million views, 'targeted for her conservative beliefs, hunted, and killed in cold blood.'"
Regunberg adds, "To be clear, there is zero evidence, as of this writing, that Cook was targeted for her conservative beliefs. It's not impossible, but it's just as likely — or significantly more likely, considering that most extremist-related murders are committed by white supremacists — that the shooter targeted Umurzokov for being an immigrant."
The New Republic journalist laments that MAGA distortions are easy to spread because there are so many right-wing media outlets online.
"The right now controls most of the traditional media institutions, the social media platforms, and the algorithms that shape our attentional ecosystem," Regunberg laments. "They have also built up a far larger network of creators than anything the left has at its disposal. How do you beat opponents who have the informational and attentional firepower to impose deceptive conspiracies on the public and, in many cases, make their lies an accepted common truth?"
Criticism of Donald Trump's remarks regarding Rob Reiner's death intensified on Tuesday morning when a prominent conservative columnist questioned the aging president's mental fitness.
In a notably direct column for conservative publication The National Review, Jim Geraghty asserted that Trump's statements suggest "something deeply wrong." He proceeded to question whether "psychopath or sociopath" better characterizes the president's behavior.
Acknowledging the tragedy of Reiner and his wife Michele, who were reportedly killed by their son, Geraghty suggested that Trump's actions reveal long-standing indicators of instability. He characterized the president as consistently "obsessed with grievances; vindictive and prone to posting late-night tirades on social media; uninterested in details; erratic, impulsive, spiteful."
Geraghty argued that Trump lacks the capacity to assess moral character through objective standards. Instead, he wrote, "Donald Trump's entire worldview of whether someone is a good person or a bad person depends entirely on whether that person offers praise or criticism of Trump."
The columnist raised concerns about Trump's access to nuclear weapons while simultaneously pursuing aggressive military policies globally, suggesting his emotional state presents a national security concern.
Geraghty acknowledged that Trump supporters could defend his policies or express satisfaction with their electoral choices. However, he concluded, "But what you can't say is that Donald Trump is a good and decent human being."
He further contended that Trump's inability to empathize with the Reiners' tragedy mirrors his disconnect from Americans struggling with cost-of-living concerns. "This is why his approval rating on the economy hit 31 percent. There are far-reaching consequences of having a president who is emotionally broken," Geraghty wrote.
Almost all of President Donald Trump's Cabinet secretaries quickly released statements supporting White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles after she criticized them in an interview with Vanity Fair.
"The article published early this morning is a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history," Wiles wrote Tuesday on X. "None of this will stop our relentless pursuit of Making America Great Again!"
Many of the Cabinet secretaries quoted Wiles in responding.
"Susie is an exceptional Chief of Staff, and her tireless dedication, loyalty, and commitment to the President are beyond reproach. Powerful leadership often works quietly – never seeking credit and always relentlessly driving results. Our Chief exemplifies that," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote. "Our Administration is united under the leadership of President Trump, and Susie's extraordinary attention to detail, diligence, and dedication to our cause is at the center of our efforts."
"These inflammatory and outright false statements will not be tolerated," Energy Secretary Chris Wright agreed. "Susie Wiles isn't just an extraordinary strategist… she's sharp, authentic, and steady under pressure. She is one of the most competent, principled, and courageous leaders I have ever worked with, and I am honored to stand alongside her every day."
Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer called Wiles "a great friend, mentor, and the architect behind President Trump's successful first months in office."
Education Secretary Linda McMahon insisted that Wiles was "a force of nature - the shrewdest and most loyal Chief of Staff."
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and FBI Director Kash Patel also expressed support.
"The radical left is at it again, trying to create discord on President Trump's team. It won't work because we know & love @SusieWiles," Duffy wrote.
Vice President J.D. Vance fired back at White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles after she called him a "conspiracy theorist" in an interview with Vanity Fair.
While speaking in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, a reporter from The Washington Post asked Vance about Wiles's remarks.
"Unfortunately, I have to ask a bit of an off-topic question from affordability," the reporter said. "And that is the interviews that White House Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles, gave to Vanity Fair, in which she's quoted as referring to you as, excuse me, and again, not my words, sir, but a conspiracy theorist of a decade, and described your transformation from someone who once opposed President Trump to now his vice president as an act of political expediency."
"Sometimes I am a conspiracy theorist, but I only believe in the conspiracy theories that are true," Vance replied. "For example, I believed in the crazy conspiracy theory back in 2020 that it was stupid to mask three-year-olds at the height of the COVID pandemic, that we should actually let them develop some language skills."
"And I believed in the conspiracy theory that Joe Biden was trying to throw his political opponents in jail rather than win an argument against his political opponents," he continued. "So, at least on some of these conspiracy theories, it turns out that a conspiracy theory is just something that was true six months before the media admitted it."
Vance went on to downplay Wiles as a mere "staffer" to the president.
"I've never seen Susie Wiles say something to the president and then go and counteract him or subvert his will behind the scenes," he explained. "And that's what you wanted from a staffer. Because as much as I love Susie, the American people didn't elect any staffer. They elected the President of the United States."
As Vance was speaking, a person in the audience shouted that Democrats were "traitors."
"They are!" the vice president agreed. "And the last thing I'll say is if any of us have learned a lesson from that Vanity Fair article, I hope that the lesson is we should be giving fewer interviews to mainstream media outlets."
The White House had a meltdown on Tuesday after CNN reported on its reaction to President Donald Trump's Chief of Staff Susie Wiles' bombshell Vanity Fair interview.
White House insiders were reportedly managing a clean-up operation over the information Wiles revealed about the reality inside Trump world when a Trump insider texted CNN anchor Dana Bash, who was live on air, telling her to correct a chyron that said "White House aides reeling over Susie Wiles interview."
CNN analyst David Chalian and Bash were discussing how the interview had rocked Washington, D.C..
"There are sort of earthquakes in politics and then there are moments like this. And it is because Susie Wiles is so restrained, so strategic, so well respected and what this is, is Susie Wiles unfiltered, on politics, on personality and on real-time policy decisions," Bash said. "And I would add, so loyal, and I'm not sure this changes here."
Chalian said CNN's phones were exploding early Tuesday.
"This electrified everyone because it was so unexpected and I don't think, and I think we have no reporting to indicate that she went into these interviews in any way to try and be anything but strategic and loyal to the president that she serves and serves with such a grip on power and flow of information inside this second Trump term," Chalian said.
"What is astounding, as you said, is the unfiltered nature of it. The other thing that I would note in her pushback, Dana, nowhere does Susie Wiles say she didn't say these things..."
Wiles has called the story "a hit piece" and said her words were taken out of context. But Chalian argued it revealed even more about the current state of the Republican party and MAGA movement.
"Policy point after policy point, she pulls back the curtain and gives the reader a real sense of what is going on inside the chief of staff's thinking on those things," Chalian said.
Bash then added that Trump insiders were texting her during the broadcast.
"What they are doing is circling the wagons and sort of cleaning this up in defense of Susie Wiles," Chalian said.
Inside the White House, people see her as "a straight shooter" and "solid," Bash added.
Bash pointed to an "intriguing" topic, including the Epstein files and the new Trump followers — not the MAGA base — that Wiles described.
"This is so telling, David, because this is all about where the GOP is right now and Susie Wiles is already there, looking ahead. How do we get from what is the Trump party right now, beyond that, and keep those people in the fold for when he is no longer on the ballot."
Chalian described how Wiles is considering the future.
"We've seen the fraying of the coalition that got him to where he is in a second term, and that is precisely the folks that Susie Wiles is talking about here, about the larger Republican project, about how to keep that coalition together for beyond Donald Trump's tenure," he added.
Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick was fiercely scolded Tuesday over his financial ties to Rumble, the video platform popular among the far-right and a hotbed of conspiracy theories, including some that “demean” the memory of Lutnick’s own brother who was killed in 9/11.
Lutnick was the CEO of the financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald until his appointment in the Trump administration earlier this year when he handed off the company to his sons. Lutnick has continued to promote projects that financially benefit Cantor Fitzgerald, which has deep business ties to Tether Limited, a financial technology company.
Tether Limited, in turn, has invested $775 million in Rumble, which regularly promotes disproven conspiracy theories on topics like vaccines and the Holocaust. Another popular topic on the platform is the 9/11 attacks, with some videos on the topic promoting the idea that Jewish people had advanced knowledge of the attacks — videos that were explicitly promoted by the platform.
Lutnick’s own brother, Gary Lutnick, was among the 2,977 people killed on 9/11, as were 658 employees at Lutnick’s company, Cantor Fitzgerald. And, with Cantor Fitzgerald having a “direct stake” in Rumble, political author and ex-State Department official Kristofer Harrison hammered the Commerce secretary for his “large financial stake” in a company disparaging his own brother’s memory.
“A company in which Howard Lutnick has a large financial stake, makes money by pushing propaganda that not only demeans the murder of 658 Cantor Fitzgerald employees – and even Lutnick’s own brother – by pushing gross theories about Jews receiving advanced knowledge of 9/11,” Harrison wrote in an analysis published Tuesday on his Substack dekleptocracy.
“It also lets the true authors of this horror off the hook. Lutnick, to the best of our knowledge, has never objected.”
Cantor Fitzgerald saw its most profitable year in history since Lutnick was appointed to Trump’s cabinet, largely around its investments in cryptocurrency.
Harrison, who’s also the founder of Dekleptocracy Alliance – an organization which aims to “accelerate transparency and anti-corruption organizations” – also went as far as to accuse Rumble of having “killed Americans,” and “a lot of Americans” due to its promotion of COVID-19 misinformation, including one debunked documentary viewed more than 18 million times that claimed vaccines were part of a “global elite” plot to depopulate the earth.
