Any hope Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth might have that Navy Admiral Frank Bradley will absorb all the blame for what is being called a “war crime” was disabused by an MS NOW panel on Tuesday morning.
Reacting to both Hegseth and the White House singling out the admiral for having the final say on the attack that killed two alleged "narcoterrorists" who were hanging onto a burning vessel in the Caribbean in September, the “Morning Joe” co-hosts claimed the embattled Pentagon chief is facing a reckoning.
With host Joe Scarborough claiming Hegseth does not have a lot of fans among Republican lawmakers, he noted that normally stoic Fox News personality Brit Hume yesterday came down hard on the Pentagon head — which is a sign that the tide is turning.
“It's very interesting, Brit Hume proving once again that the administration, like in the Epstein files, finds themselves in a position where they're not fighting lefties, right? They're not going up against the most progressive voices in America, people they can call communists or Marxists,” Scarborough pointed out. “It is Fox News contributors. It is [National Review’s] Andy McCarthy saying, ‘No, no, no, no, no.’ This new excuse of pointing, you know, at somebody else.”
“You're right,” co-host Willie Geist later contributed. “The White House was caught in this moment right now where they're saying, ‘Well, yes, Defense Secretary Hegseth did order the second strike, but not to kill the people just to disable the boat. The decision to kill the people, allegedly, is that of Admiral Bradley, a decorated admiral in the Navy. So to push that admiral in front of the bus is not going to end well, probably for Defense Secretary Hegseth.”
“He's in a bind. The White House is in a bind,” he warned.
A Texas judge who announced his candidacy in a high-profile U.S. House race Tuesday isn’t likely to face repercussions despite attracting a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission , experts told Raw Story.
Tano Tijerina, a Democrat-turned-Republican judge in Webb County, Texas, has long been eyeing a campaign against Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX).
Cuellar has held the 28th congressional district seat since 2005, now a prime GOP target in recent redistricting attempts and in light of bribery charges against Cuellar.
On Nov. 21, Cecilia Martinez, an ethics professor from San Antonio, filed an FEC complaint, alleging Tijerina used an exploratory committee to circumvent state resign-to-run laws, which require officeholders to step down from an elected job upon deciding to campaign for another, if there’s more than a year and 30 days left in the term.
Tijerina’s term as a county judge ends Dec. 31, 2026. But, he launched an exploratory committee for a challenge to Cuellar in June, gaining national attention.
Martinez’s allegation that Tijerina violated federal law has also attracted coverage.
She alleges Tijerina made up his mind to run for Congress long before launching his exploratory committee, citing interviews with local TV and radio stations where the judge acknowledged needing to wait until after Dec. 1 to announce a potential candidacy, in order to keep his job.
The complaint also references a social media post, shared by Tijerina, from a Webb County employee who said she was excited to see her “boss” head to Congress.
The FEC says a candidate is considered to be campaigning rather than “testing the waters” if they advertise or make statements as candidates, inform the media of a planned date to announce their candidacy, or raise more money than “reasonably needed to test the waters.”
The complaint says: “Judge Tijerina’s congressional campaign remains under the guise of an exploratory committee not because he is legitimately testing the waters, but because he does not want to face the state-law consequences of declaring his candidacy.”
Tijerina’s exploratory committee called the complaint a “political sham.”
Below is the Tano Tijerina Exploratory Committee's response to the Laredo Morning Times sloppy hit piece:
The Laredo Morning Times has earned itself the Ambush Journalism Award after firing off a press request at 7:51 AM on a Saturday while the entire County government was busy… — Judge Tano Tijerina (@JudgeTano) November 23, 2025
“Judge Tano Tijerina is following every federal and state rule governing exploratory activity, and has not crossed a single legal line,” said the committee in an X post shared by Tijerina on Nov. 23.
“This is a coordinated smear campaign by far-left operatives terrified that even the possibility of Judge Tijerina exploring a run jeopardizes their grip on TX-28.
“Instead of finding an alternative for their own ethically compromised incumbent, they dug up an ‘online’ professor to rubber-stamp a flimsy accusation that falls apart the moment you read it.”
Bradley A. Smith, a professor at Capital University Law School who served on the FEC from 2000-05, including a year as chair, told Raw Story: “These are very hard cases to try to claim, ‘Oh, no, he's actually a candidate and needs to start filing reports as a candidate.
“You basically are asking the FEC, or eventually a court, to sort of mind read what the person was really planning to do.”
‘They game laws all the time’
Once an individual decides to become a candidate, they are required to register with the FEC within 15 days of raising or spending $5,000.
The Tijerina complaint points out that he is working with a political consultancy, Lilly and Company, and hosted a fundraiser in October, soliciting donations between $500 and $7,000.
But fundraising for an exploratory committee is allowed even if it exceeds $5,000, the FEC says. Only once the individual decides to be a candidate does the $5,000 threshold come into play.
Smith said: “The whole idea is to test the water. You’re telling people, ‘Yeah, I'm thinking about running for Congress. I'm thinking really seriously about it. I'm raising money for it,’ because, remember, you can raise this money, and then if you declare, then the money all has to be reported.”
Activities considered to be testing the waters include polling, traveling and making calls.
“By definition, you are doing campaign stuff, and you can very specifically do things like public polling, see how you might do, and that sort of thing,” Smith said.
“So, it's pretty easy for a candidate in this position, especially once the complaint is filed … to just say, ‘Well, yeah, I'm considering it, there's no doubt about that … that's why I set up an exploratory committee, but I haven't made a final decision.’”
While “all the money he's raising is in accordance with the rules,” Smith said Tijerina could be in “technical violation.”
“Is he gaming the Texas state law? Yeah, probably, but they game laws all the time in this kind of thing,” Smith said.
Randall Erben, an adjunct professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, said it’d be up to a court to determine if Tijerina was a candidate prior to 13 months before the end of his term.
Erben said Texas courts “like eligibility, and they like people staying in office. That’s the public policy of the state.”
However, the framers of the resign-to-run provisions wanted “public office holders to pay attention to what they were doing.
“They were elected to a full term on a county or district office or city office. They wanted them to focus 100 percent on the duties for which they were elected, and not be spending a lot of time seeking other office.
“It's pretty simple public policy, and especially in this day and age where campaigning is 24/7, 365, I think the public policy is probably even more valid now than it was when they added it in the 1950s.”
‘Cost of doing business’
The FEC would not confirm receipt of the Tijerina complaint, due to confidentiality requirements. Any complaint resolutions are published 30 days after a vote to close the matter, said spokesperson Myles Martin.
Smith said: “As a practical matter, I don't think the FEC has ever been very rigorous in trying to say, ‘You've gone too far.’”
With President Donald Trump firing one commissioner and others resigning, the agency has for months lacked a quorum, meaning it “can't act on anything” anyway, Smith said.
“If we think about this for the midterms … it's quite likely that if the fine were assessed [against Tijerina], it wouldn't be until, quite possibly, after the 2026 election.
“A lot of campaigns say, ‘Well, cost of doing business,’ at that point.”
When Christopher A. Wray, a traditional Republican conservative who got along with the Biden Administration, announced his resignation as FBI director in late 2024, Donald Trump was determined to appoint an ultra-MAGA replacement. And he found it in now-FBI Director Kash Patel, a far-right conspiracy theorist and Trump loyalist
But Patel is far from universally loved among FBI alumni, and a 115-page report — according to the Trump-friendly, Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post — offers a biting critique of his months leading the agency. The report describes the FBI as a "rudderless ship" under Patel's direction.
Patel, in the report, is described as "in over his head," and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino is described as "something of a clown."
According to the Post's Miranda Devine, "Patel is described by multiple internal sources as inexperienced, with one source saying he 'has neither the breadth of experience nor the bearing an FBI director needs to be successful.' Another source, a self-professed Trump supporter, said Patel is 'not very good,' 'may be insecure,' and 'lacks the requisite experience' or the 'measured self-confidence' to be FBI director. However, an additional source described him as 'very personable and likable' while noting he 'created a culture of mistrust and uncertainty among the ranks.'"
The report is drawing a lot of reactions on X, formerly Twitter.
Chuck Todd, former host of NBC News' "Meet the Press" — which goes back to 1947 — tweeted, "Not a good sign for the FBI bros that this story showed up in Trump's favorite newspaper."
KrassenCast's Brian Krassenstein posted, "A massive 155-page report on the FBI, leaked to the NY Post finds that the FBI Under Kash Patel is a 'rudderless ship' and 'll f––d up.' It also covers this embarrassing story about @Kash_Patel: The day after Kirk was assassinated, Patel flew into Provo, Utah, on the FBI jet but 'would not disembark from the plane without an FBI raid jacket,' according to ALPHA 99, a 'highly respected' source who has served in the FBI for multiple decades."
X user Henry Hamblin wrote, "This is really intense, Miranda. The inclusion of the 'medium' raid vest that he demanded (and it was a woman agents!) before getting off the plane in Utah, I'm guessing h'’s been targeted for dismissal."
Business owner Ashley Kenyon posted, "And somehow they don't say same about Pam Bondi? I think Bongino isn't the issue at Deputy director he doesn't choose how to run the FBI. Patel is the issue. He talked big on all the podcasts for years but isn't doing anything he said he would. I think also there is significant leftovers of known bad actor FBI agents who they can't seem to fire."
Donald Trump has added further fuel to a conspiracy surrounding the use of an autopen by presidential predecessor, Joe Biden.
The president has previously claimed he will cancel all executive orders Biden passed when using an autopen. He took to Truth Social and wrote, "Any document signed by Sleepy Joe Biden with the Autopen, which was approximately 92% of them, is hereby terminated, and of no further force or effect."
It seems Trump is still thinking on the autopen days after this post, and a week after showing Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman a framed photograph of Biden's autopen, which has replaced the presidential portrait of Biden.
Trump has frequently alleged that the Biden administration forged the Democrat leader's signature using an autopen to sign off on broader actions he was not aware of. While there is no evidence to support this, it's a claim Trump has shared several times. His most recent claim of this occurring had him dubbed a "lunatic" by concerned members of the public.
Taking to Truth Social, the president shared a screenshot from far-right conspiracy site InfoWars. Alex Jones made an unfounded claim that Michelle Obama "may have used" Biden's autopen during his time in office.
The full claim reads, "Michelle Obama may have used Biden's autopen in the final days of his disastrous administration to pardon key individuals." While the claim from Patrick Byrne is absurd, it falls in line with the president's thoughts on Biden's autopen.
Trump sharing the screenshot has caused some concern with members of the public. One viral post to X had one person write, "The president is a lunatic."
Political commentator Brian Krassenstein went on to say the move to cancel all executive orders from Biden signed with an autopen is "illegal". They wrote, "THIS IS ILLEGAL and Trump used an autopen hundreds of times."
Trump would go on to call Joe Biden "crooked" and says the executive orders he signed into law would be revoked as they had been signed "illegally".
Trump wrote, "I am hereby cancelling all Executive Orders, and anything else that was not directly signed by Crooked Joe Biden, because the people who operated the Autopen did so illegally."
California Governor Gavin Newsom has once more mocked Donald Trump, this time with a "memorandum" billing him as the "healthiest person alive".
Newsom made the hilarious claim through an official statement which ripped apart the president's shorter working days and alleged inability to stay awake during meetings. The statement, posted to the Governor Newsom Press Office account, mocked Trump for standing "like the leaning Tower of Pisa" and used the president's own rhetoric to jokingly claim Newsom is "the healthiest person alive and ever to live."
The statement reads, "As part of Governor Gavin Newsom's annual physical, we conducted advanced imaging of his cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and neurological health. I'm pleased to report that nothing about the Governor's health is merely 'normal'. Governor Newsom remains the healthiest human currently alive or recorded in medical history."
Newsom's statement would go on to hit out at Trump, whose White House press team had released a similar-sounding statement bragging about the "excellent health" of the president. The 79-year-old Commander in Chief recently confirmed he would release his MRI results, though when pressed by reporters for what the test had scanned, Trump couldn't recall.
He told reporters on Air Force One, "It was just an MRI. What part of the body? It wasn’t the brain because I took a cognitive test and I aced it."
Newsom's press office statement adds, "We'll simply note that Governor Newsom completes full workdays without falling asleep in meetings, does not require 'executive time' to lie down and watch TV during work hours, and is able to stand upright without looking like the leaning Tower of Pisa."
"If a side-by-side health chart were released, we recommend redacting it for the President's emotional well-being. Governor Newsom remains the healthiest person alive and ever to live. Please direct follow-up questions to my office."
The office in question would be that of Dr. Dolittle, the fictional character from the children's book series written by Hugh Lofting. It's clear that Governor Newsom has little time for Trump's health claims, making a mockery of repeated statements from the White House over the president's health.
Newsom's press team also joked he had such a steady resting heart rate that he was asked "if he was 'meditating or just naturally enlightened'". Captain Sean Barbabella released the MRI results earlier today, suggesting Trump "shows excellent health" for a 79-year-old.
An FBI dossier that criticised director Kash Patel and his team has led to mockery from Democrat representative Eric Swalwell.
Swalwell, who confirmed he was running for Governor of California next year, took aim at FBI Director Patel in a statement made to X. The post poked fun at Patel, who was said to have refused to leave a plane until a jacket emblazoned with the FBI logo was found for him. The report, which was written by a collection of active and retired agents and analysts.
Part of the report recalled Patel refusing to leave until he was handed an FBI jacket. The report reads, "Patel apparently did not have his own FBI raid jacket with him and refused to step from the plane without wearing one."
Swalwell took to X and mocked Patel for this, while also criticising the department's apparent lack of focus on real issues like domestic terrorism. The Dem rep wrote, "I don’t mind that FBI Director Kash Patel had to wear a women’s (size medium) jacket to cosplay as someone in charge. I just wish he’d focus on stopping the rampant domestic terrorism happening on his watch."
FBI Director Patel, along with deputy director Dan Bongino, appear to have had a negative effect on employee's with "an 80/20" skew to negativity through anecdotal reporting.
Sources have described Patel as "in over his head" and lacking "the breadth of experience" necessary to be a successful FBI director. The "pulse check" on the FBI's mood comes as the FBI dossier described Bongino as a "clown" and also detailed a tantrum from Patel, who refused to leave a plane until he was handed an FBI jacket.
Patel is yet to respond to the comments made in the dossier, though deputy head Bongino took to X with a thinly veiled knock at those who were unhappy with the changes the Trump administration had made to the FBI.
He wrote, "A LOT of people are very upset at the changes and reforms we've made at the FBI. They will do anything to revert to the old ways of doing things. So they leak gossipy nonsense to media outlets and 'journalists' with a clear agenda, and they ignore the historic results and the significant reforms we instituted."
Talk show host Jimmy Kimmel has ripped into a series of Truth Social posts made by Donald Trump.
The 58-year-old comedian would tear down a post made by the president which included his Thanksgiving message and a controversial attack on Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Speaking in the opening address of Jimmy Kimmel Live, the host suggested one of Trump's posts in particular had people laughing at him, not at the country.
Trump's post reads, "A very Happy Thanksgiving salutation to all of our Great American Citizens and Patriots who have been so nice in allowing our Country to be divided, disrupted, carved up, murdered, beaten, mugged, and laughed at..."
Kimmel would take aim at the "laughed at" section of the post, using it as a segue into people mocking the president and his later comments on Truth Social. The talk show host said, "'Murdered, mugged, beaten, and laughed at?' I hate to be the one to tell you, our country isn't being laughed at, they're laughing at you."
Kimmel would then turn his attention to later in the Truth Social tirade where Trump had called Gov. Walz a leader who "does nothing, either through fear, incompetence, or both". Kimmel joked this was Trump being "presidential when he wants to be."
He continued, "I wonder why he didn't get that Nobel Peace Prize. It makes no sense. Trump posted that little blessing on Thanksgiving and caused quite an uproar, even among some Republicans". Trump would double down on his claim that Walz was "seriously retarded", a statement he made as part of his Thanksgiving post.
The president would then tell Air Force One reporters he believed there is "something seriously wrong" with the Governor of Minnesota. Kimmel dubbed Trump "President of the Eighth Grade" following these comments on Walz.
Later in his address, Kimmel would joke the president "can't read" when it comes to polling numbers. Trump claimed he was doing well in the polls but figures across the board are not on the president's side.
It was reported earlier this week that Trump was losing ground not just in general polling but in Republican support too. Kimmel said, "According to every major poll, it's [Trump's approval rating] the lowest we've ever seen since we flushed him out of office the first time."
"His negative rating is now at sixty percent. There are gas station bathrooms on Yelp with higher approval ratings than Donald Trump right now. We are not in an upwards trajectory."
Donald Trump's administration must brace for a storm of problems as the president is "sinking like a rock", his niece, Mary Trump, has said.
The political commentator and member of the Trump family suggested the slate of problems Trump now faces may be too much for his administration to survive. Cracks are beginning to show in the president's core support, and issues from healthcare to the cost-of-living crisis are starting to see Trump slip in the polls.
Mary Trump said, "The Trump regime has long been a sinking ship and with a rat like Donald at the helm it's not really surprising. But, the sinking is accelerating. Even with full control of the government, Republicans are resigning and even more are threatening to."
She went on to say Trump's approval ratings are "sinking like a rock" and that he looks "increasingly feeble" and "unhinged" in public appearances. Mary Trump also responded to an article published in The Atlantic, which suggested Trump is starting to lose touch with what his voter base wants.
Mary Trump countered this claim, suggesting, "Donald Trump has never been in touch with what the public wants from a president or, if he has been in touch with that sentiment, he's never cared about it, so this, again, is not exactly news."
"If by being in touch with the public means holding way too many rallies, I don't really see how that tracks, how that translates into Donald's caring what the American people think or want."
Trump has been consistently slipping in the polls and has even lost the lead on the "only number he cares about". It was reported earlier this week that Trump had seen the Republican voter base approval rating dwindle by seven percentage points.
MS NOW host Jonathan Capehart said, "If you look at the latest Gallup poll... I say when you look at those overall poll numbers, you've got to go and look at his Republican approval rating because that is the only number he cares about,"
"In this poll, it's interesting, Donald Trump's approval rating has fallen among Republicans seven percentage points since like a month ago."
A prominent political strategist claimed during a podcast interview on Monday that President Donald Trump's second term is effectively over after Democrats picked up wins in key state races, which he said was the result of Trump revealing a "stunning" vulnerability.
For the last several years, Trump has appeared to be an unshakable political force. He survived two impeachments during his first term and has faced almost no sustained opposition to his agenda during his second term. However, experts have argued that cracks are appearing in Trump's base because of his strikes against alleged drug dealers and his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
James Carville, a prominent Democratic strategist, discussed Trump's vulnerabilities during an interview on "The Daily Beast Podcast" with Joanna Coles, the outlet's chief content officer.
"His presidency, in terms of getting anything significantly done, is over," Carville said. "He's definitely got to deal with a Democratic House. I think it's more likely he's going to be dealing with a Democratic Senate, too."
Carville added that key wins by Democrats in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and other state races have exposed a "stunning" weakness for Trump: the economy.
For instance, Carville pointed to the Trump administration allowing Obamacare subsidies to expire, which drove up health care costs for millions of Americans. He also pointed to the administration's efforts to cut funding for rural hospitals.
"That election was beyond conclusive," Carville said. "It was stunning, not just in the depth but the breadth of it."
A progressive analyst ripped FBI Director Kash Patel on Monday after a 115-page report outlining several "red flags" at his agency was released.
Progressive YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen said in a new YouTube video on Monday night that Patel's FBI appears to be run more like a content creation studio than a premier law enforcement agency. He cited a report that was first reported on by The New York Post that described the FBI as a "rudderless ship."
The report cited examples such as Patel not having the right size raid jacket to depart a plane following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, his "expletive-laden" criticisms of agents, and ordering agents to get polygraphs to find out who had criticized him.
Cohen added that it appeared the FBI was more interested in protecting Patel's image than conducting law enforcement activities.
"That's not leadership," Cohen said. "That is influencer culture masquerading as federal law enforcement."
"But here's the thing, the FBI is not a content creation studio," he continued. "It's not a platform for Cash Patel to build his brand. It is the nation's premier law enforcement agency tasked with protecting Americans from terrorism, espionage, and violent crimes. And when the director of the FBI is more concerned with getting the perfect shot for his next post than with actually doing the job, then it's the entire country that suffers the consequences of that."
Cohen also noted that it was suspicious that someone inside the administration leaked the report to a Trump-friendly outlet like The New York Post.
"The fact that it was leaked to her specifically suggests that even Trump friendly sources want this information out there," Cohen said. "They want Donald Trump to see it. They want the public to see it because the FBI under Patel's leadership has become such a disaster that even people who want him to succeed are waving red flags."
President Donald Trump threatened a foreign country in a new social media post on Monday night over the country's election results.
"Looks like Honduras is trying to change the results of their Presidential Election. If they do, there will be hell to pay!" Trumpwrote on Truth Social.
Trump's comments come at a time when the New York Times described Trump as the "wildcard" in a "razor-thin" election in Honduras. About 48 hours before the polls closed, Trump threatened to withhold federal support from the country if his preferred candidate did not win, according to the outlet.
"The people of Honduras voted in overwhelming numbers on November 30th," he continued. "The National Electoral Commission, the official body charged with counting the Votes, abruptly stopped counting at midnight on November 30th. Their count showed a close race between Tito Asfura and Salvador Nasralla with Asfura holding a narrow lead of 500 votes."
"Their tally was stopped when only 47 percent of the Vote was counted," the post added. "It is imperative that the Commission finish counting the Votes. Hundreds of thousands of Hondurans must have their Votes counted. Democracy must prevail!"
President Donald Trump is facing harsh criticism from Republican senators in solidly red states over his exploding drug policy scandals.
According to Semafor's Burgess Everett, several GOP senators are upset both over recent reports that Trump's military command ordered the illegal shooting of shipwreck survivors from a ship targeted as a suspected drug trafficking operation, and his pardoning of former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández from a 45-year drug trafficking sentence.
Sen. Jim Justice (R-WV) called the shooting of maritime survivors "not acceptable," and said that while he still stands behind Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in general, "if he made that decision, I think he’s made a bad decision." (Hegseth, while still defending the order, has said it was given by Admiral Mitch Bradley and not himself.)
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who has been sounding the alarm on the drug strikes for weeks, had an even harsher message.
"[Hegseth] acted like he didn’t even know it happened," Paul told Everett. "He said it was fake news yesterday. And today: ‘It happened.’ I would think someone needs to hold someone’s feet to the fire.'"
Meanwhile, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) expressed his fury over the Hernández pardon.
“I’m a doctor," said Cassidy. "I have worked in a hospital for the uninsured. I have seen people die of cocaine that this guy may have helped bring in."
All of this comes as a retiring battleground state senator, Thom Tillis (R-NC), has proclaimed that whoever was behind the double-tap order should "get the hell out" of Washington.
The Wall Street Journal's conservative editorial board on Monday slammed President Donald Trump's strikes against alleged drug boats in international waters and argued the move could backfire on the president.
The Trump administration has conducted more than a dozen strikes against alleged drug boats since taking office, moves that have killed nearly 100 people. The strikes have inspired significant debate among legal experts and have seemed to split Trump's MAGA base.
The Journal's editorial board argued that Trump deserves "wide latitude" on the strikes, but added that Trump risks losing support for the strikes because he has offered scant evidence to support his claims that they are justified.
"Our view is that the Commander in Chief deserves legal latitude as part of his constitutional war powers," the editorial board wrote. "But that doesn’t extend to shooting the wounded in violation of U.S. and international rules of war. The Pentagon’s own law of war manual prohibits 'hostilities on the basis that there shall be no survivors.' Such excesses will also turn the public against allowing a President the power he may someday need to defend the country’s interests quickly."
"The drug-boat war is presenting questions of presidential power and America’s role in the world that will continue long after President Trump leaves Washington, and good for lawmakers who appreciate the stakes," the editorial board added.
