MSN

A former Army lieutenant general said on Wednesday that he was alarmed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's speech at West Point's commencement ceremony over the weekend.

Hegseth discussed his usual culture-war topics, such as removing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programming from the military, during the speech. But it was the Secretary's comments about the Trump administration's support for military members that alarmed Gen. Mark Hertling, the former commanding general of the U.S. Army in Europe.

President Donald Trump spent roughly 10 minutes of a high-stakes cabinet meeting Wednesday discussing his Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovation project, instead of focusing on delicate Iran war negotiations.

"From 1922 on, it really never worked," Trump told cabinet members, mistakingly referring to the the pool as a "reflecting lake," and an embarrassment, according to NPR.

Rodney S. Scott, the head of President Donald Trump's Customs and Border Protection, is being ordered to a federal court hearing next month to answer for whether the administration is complying with court orders to issue refunds for the president's tariff scheme.

According to The New York Times, "The unexpected demand, issued on Wednesday, hinted at a judge’s ongoing concern that the government has not fully complied with a directive to return all of the money amassed under duties that were declared illegal by the Supreme Court earlier this year."

Right-wing podcaster Katie Miller was brutally mocked on Wednesday after she attacked the social media manager for the Democrats online.

Miller lashed out at Paulina Mangubat, a 30-year-old who runs "The Democrats" account on X, after the account posted a nasty reply to one of Miller's husband's posts.

Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright confronted right-wing activist Terry Schilling on CNN after Schilling attacked Democratic candidate James Talarico, calling him unelectable against scandal-plagued Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Schilling dismissed the idea that Texas could turn blue, citing conservative demographics and Christian values, and then used gender-coded language to mock Talarico's vegan diet and Austin teaching background.

Newly released documents from February reveal that a U.S. magistrate judge denied five search warrant requests from the Trump administration related to the Cities Church FACE Act prosecution, which most famously led to charges against former CNN reporter Don Lemon.

The issue involved a group of protesters who disrupted a gathering at a St. Paul church with a pastor who was working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, at a time when federal agents had effectively taken over the city of Minneapolis. The administration used the FACE Act, which is typically used to protect access to abortion clinics, but has a little-used provision also protecting church services.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents privately admitted to each other how horrific the conditions were in their section of 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan, Courthouse News reported on Wednesday — including the proliferation of dangerous diseases in the facility.

"At the height of ICE’s immigrant detention campaign in New York City last summer, the agency regularly crammed well over 100 people at a time into a holding facility in Lower Manhattan, according to a class of detainees suing over their treatment," said the report. "Health issues permeated throughout the facility, even according to employees of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement."