The United States has deployed an aircraft carrier strike group to the Caribbean as tensions between the Trump administration and Venezuela continue to escalate, a spokesperson for the Defense Department said Friday.
“The enhanced U.S. force presence in the [U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility] will bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere,” wrote Sean Parnell, DOD spokesperson, in a statement shared on social media Friday.
“These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle [transnational criminal organizations].”
Tensions between the United States and Venezuela under the leadership of Nicolas Maduro have ramped up in recent weeks after President Donald Trump began ordering strikes on suspected drug-carrying vessels headed toward the United States. Maduro was indicted on narco-terrorism charges by the Justice Department in 2020, and the Trump administration continues to consider outright assassinating him, according to an anonymous senior Trump official.
“The dispatch of a carrier is the strongest sign yet that the Trump administration envisions expanding the airstrikes that so far have been limited to striking small vessels to other targets on land in what officials have said is an effort to destroy drug-smuggling operations and destabilize Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro’s government,” wrote journalist Shelby Holliday in a report Friday in The Wall Street Journal.
“The Pentagon was already carrying out a large buildup of combat power in the region. A carrier in the region would enable commanders to carry out airstrikes at a higher tempo and shorten the distance U.S. planes would have to fly to reach targets on land.”
The latest strike on suspected drug-carrying vessels came late Thursday night after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Friday morning that another six suspected “narco-terrorists” were killed. Critics have labeled the targeted strikes as violations of international law.
President Donald Trump spent Friday morning posting about the economy in an apparent effort to push back on a widely criticized remark by White House press secretary Katherine Leavitt.
A reporter asked Leavitt whether the president had any other renovations in mind at the White House after ordering the swift demolition of the East Wing, and the press secretary said Trump's mind was "always churning" about improvements to the official presidential home and workplace but for now "the ballroom is really the president’s main priority."
Trump seemingly heard the critics – "Maybe literally anything else Americans are struggling with could be a priority? Cost of living? Health care? National security? Just a thought," posted the House Natural Resources Committee Democrats on X – and fired off a series of Truth Social posts on the economy after calling off trade talks Thursday night with Canada over pushback against his tariffs.
"THE UNITED STATES IS WEALTHY, POWERFUL, AND NATIONALLY SECURE AGAIN, ALL BECAUSE OF TARIFFS! THE MOST IMPORTANT CASE EVER IS IN THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT," Trump posted at 7:29 a.m. "GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!"
"THE STOCK MARKET IS STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE BECAUSE OF TARIFFS!" he added four minutes later.
The president earlier touted the supposed benefits of his tariffs to automakers and thanked himself.
"Ford and General Motors UP BIG on Tariffs placed on Big and Midsized Trucks coming from other countries," Trump posted at 7:01 a.m. "Thank you President Trump!"
He also reiterated his intention to escalate his trade war against Canada over an advertisement produced by Ontario's provisional government highlighting a 1987 speech by the late President Ronald Reagan explaining his opposition to tariffs, which the former president's foundation and Trump claimed was misleading.
"CANADA CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT!!!" Trump posted at 7:20 a.m. "They fraudulently took a big buy ad saying that Ronald Reagan did not like Tariffs, when actually he LOVED TARIFFS FOR OUR COUNTRY, AND ITS NATIONAL SECURITY. Canada is trying to illegally influence the United States Supreme Court in one of the most important rulings in the history of our Country. Canada has long cheated on Tariffs, charging our farmers as much as 400%. Now they, and other countries, can’t take advantage of the U.S. any longer. Thank you to the Ronald Reagan Foundation for exposing this FRAUD. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!"
On Thursday, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) was among lawmakers who bothered coming to work during the government shutdown.
Asked for her views on Trump's hugely controversial claim that he should be compensated for being the subject of DOJ investigations into Russian election interference and his retention of classified information after leaving office, Moore Capito paused.
"I don't know that I've ever heard anybody being paid by the federal government for investigations into them," the senator confessed.
"I understand his frustration with it, but I don't think it's going to happen."
Moore Capito noted that there are likely a lot of people in the same position as Trump who wish they could do the same thing.
Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, for example, faced DOJ investigations into the use of private email for official business (Clinton) and retention of classified information (Biden) but were not offered settlements by the Justice Department.
Other Republicans preferred to dodge the issue.
Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) told Raw Story, "I'm not focused on that. I'm really not focused on that."
She then laughed, adding: "You ask me questions I really don't care about."
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said: "I don't have an opinion on it."
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) complained that his phone was identified by investigators as a number Trump kept calling in the days leading up to Jan. 6, 2021— the day Trump encouraged a mob of his supporters to “fight like hell” before sending them to the U.S. Capitol where hundreds attempted to block certification of Biden's conclusive victory in the 2020 presidential election.
When Raw Story asked if Hawley would be requesting a couple of million dollars for his trouble, Sen. Hawley said it would be "from the phone companies" if he sued.
"On money, we have civil damages in our court system," he said. "And the president knows how to use the court system."
Hawley joked that Trump could sue former FBI Director James Comey instead.
Trump already demanded that the DOJ indict Comey, who was then charged in the Eastern District of Virginia, for allegedly lying to Congress.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) agreed with the president that the Justice Department had been "mean" to him. However, Scott said the DOJ should only fork over the money Trump wants if Trump wins in court.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), a reliable backer of the President, said the taxpayer dollars in question already belonged to Trump.
"It's not taxpayer funds, it's his funds," Tuberville, who is now running for governor in Alabama, told Raw Story when asked if Trump should get a payout from the government.
The decision on whether Trump will get his compensation lies with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche — formerly Trump's criminal defense attorney.
On Thursday, CBS News reported the ranking Democrats on both the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees have asked the White House to turn over copies of Trump's claims for DOJ compensation.
Trump’s not constitutionally eligible for such payments, Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Robert Garcia (D-CA) wrote.
"The Founders feared presidents like you might one day be tempted to use their powers to steal U.S. taxpayer funds,” their letter said. “That's why they enshrined a very simple rule into the Constitution, which is called the Domestic Emoluments Clause.
“As President, you may not receive any payment from the federal government or any of the states, except for your salary, which is currently fixed by law at $400,000 per year."
Trump filed the claims before returning to the White House in January.
Back in the Senate on Thursday, Democrats were swift to condemn Trump's claims.
"He's corrupt. He will continue to be corrupt. We should not be surprised. He will do corrupt actions," Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) told Raw Story of Trump and his demand for $230m.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called Trump's move a "terrible ethical violation."
The senior Democrat went on to tease exclusively to Raw Story that something more about the matter would come "tomorrow."
President Donald Trump announced he was cutting off trade talks with Canada over an advertisement released by Ontario's provincial government featuring critical comments about tariffs made by the late Ronald Reagan.
The former president's foundation claimed the ad issued this week "misrepresents" Reagan's 1987 speech, in which he argued tariffs “every American worker and consumer” and “triggering fierce trade wars," and the foundation is "reviewing legal options" and Trump is lashing out.
"The Ronald Reagan Foundation has just announced that Canada has fraudulently used an advertisement, which is FAKE, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about Tariffs," Trump posted late Thursday on Truth Social. "The ad was for $75,000,000. They only did this to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other courts."
The U.S. Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments next month on the president's tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act after lower courts found Trump's orders unlawful, and the federal government could be required to refund up to $1 trillion in revenue to American companies if the justices uphold those decisions.
"TARIFFS ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY, AND ECONOMY, OF THE U.S.A.," Trump posted. "Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DJT"
Trump has thrown the centuries-long friendly relationship between the U.S. and Canada into turmoil with steep tariffs on autos, aluminum, energy, lumber and steel and threatened to take over Canada as the 51st state, and the trade war has hurt both nations' economies and job markets.
President Donald Trump recently admitted that he has been defeated by his long-time nemesis, the proverbial "swamp" of the Washington, D.C. establishment, according to one ex-GOP analyst.
Tim Miller, host of "The Bulwark Podcast," said in a new episode on Thursday that Trump's announcement that he is fundraising private dollars to finance the construction of a "gilded" ballroom at the White House is an admission that he's been defeated by the swamp. He also described the project as "blatant corruption."
"Donald Trump is now fully in league with the corporate establishment," Miller said. "He's fully in league with the lobbyists. He's fully in league with the deep state. He's fully in league with the military-industrial complex. All of the powerful interests in Washington have co-opted Donald Trump, and they've done so by bribing him with a pretty ballroom where he can have dinner parties because that's what he actually cares about."
Trump first announced plans for the White House ballroom over the summer. Initially, the president said it would not damage the East Wing of the White House. However, he has since completely demolished the East Wing as part of the renovation.
Initial estimates for the project suggested it may cost $200 million, which Trump has said will be paid for by private funds. Trump said on Thursday that the project's estimated cost is now nearly $350 million.
Miller also noted that several of the companies that appear to be funding the project are also seeking favorable treatment from the administration, especially cryptocurrency companies.
"There is straightforward corruption that's at play here," Miller said.
The cost of President Donald Trump's ballroom addition to the White House has gone up, from its original stated price of $200 million to nearly double that, the president admitted while speaking to reporters on Thursday.
"Have you raised the full $300 million needed to fund your ballroom, and how much specifically are you donating to this construction?" asked a reporter.
"Actually, we raised, I think, $350 million, all donor money, and money that we put up, uh, we've raised, it's going to be, it's going to cost right in the neighborhood of $300 million," said Trump. "It's been expanded and made, absolutely, it'll be the most beautiful ballroom anywhere in the world, I think."
"And how much specifically are you donating to it personally?" reporters followed up.
"How much am I donating? I won't be able to tell you until I finish, but I'll donate whatever is needed. I'll tell you that," said Trump.
The ballroom project, which has already resulted in demolition work on parts of the East Wing despite previous promises it would not alter any existing structure, has triggered outrage from observers who fear Trump is reshaping the White House too aggressively in his own image, as well as those angry he is focusing on a vanity project for his own residence at a moment when the federal government is shut down over a standoff about extending health care funding for millions of people.
Reactions mounted Thursday as footage showed the White House's East Wing "pretty much gone" as a damning poll shows Americans are appalled by the demolition, viewing it as a "gut punch."
"A YouGov America survey shows that 50 percent disapprove of the overall White House refurb, as opposed to just 33 percent who declare that they are in favor," The Daily Beast reports. "Some 53 percent are against the East Wing being torn down, while just 24 percent of the 2,000 people polled favor Trump’s redesign of the extension, originally constructed in 1902."
Trump has said that the changes were a long time coming and claimed the construction was "music to my ears" on Monday.
"We’re building a ballroom. They’ve wanted a ballroom for 150 years, and I’m giving that honor to this wonderful place," Trump said.
Social media users responded to the startling images and videos of the building:
"It looks like the East Wing is pretty much gone," reporter Matt Novak wrote on Bluesky.
"East wing carnage," reporter and analyst Molly Jong-Fast wrote on Bluesky.
"This image of the East Wing of the White House is a metaphor for broader, reckless destruction. The ballroom that will go up there will be a gaudy monument to vanity, corruption and excess.For anyone who has worked at the WH, or cares about its rich history, it's a gut punch," David Axelrod, political analyst and former senior advisor to President Barack Obama, wrote on X.
"Trump just unilaterally destroyed the entire East Wing after claiming 'modest renovations.' Asked no one. No study done. No public input. No historical preservation efforts. All that history gone on the whims of one man," analyst and strategist Rachel Bitecofer wrote on X.
"It’s not his house. It’s your house. And he’s destroying it," former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote on X.
"Three problems with the destruction of the East Wing of the White House: 1. Dubious legality. 2. High likelihood of corruption in funding. 3. Grotesque deformation of an American house, built in an harmonious and republican ethos, soon to be bloated by an emiratic carbuncle," journalist Terry Moran wrote on X.
"Guess what, America? Your favorite president PROMISED that the consruction of his bullshit $250M ballroom would not cause any damage to The White House. Now he's demolishing its ENTIRE EAST WING! And he's doing the same to our entire country!" Producer Morgan J. Freeman wrote on X.
Donald Trump's White House is being hit with an avalanche of criticism after what some professional analysts called a "completely tone deaf" attempt to explain damage to the building during construction of a Trump ballroom.
The White House account on X posted a picture of Trump late Wednesday, saying, "THE FINEST BALLROOM EVER BUILT!"
The post also quoted Trump as claiming, "We're doing it NO COST to the country... in order to do it properly, we had to take down the existing structure."
That didn't sit well with many onlookers, including Politico alum Carla Marinucci.
"But you said you weren't going to touch the existing building. You lied," she said.
One popular account, which seeks to educate "about narcissistic and antisocial personality disorders," wrote, "Lol 'no cost' from King quid pro quo."
"Criminals," they added.
Conservative anti-Trump strategist Jeff Timmer called the post "completely tone deaf."
"Trump and his flying monkeys spend 24/7 battling their own staggering corruption with extinction-level stupidity, while simultaneously waging war against their blistering idiocy with a blitzkrieg of lawlessness," he added on Thursday.
The founder of Sons of Liberty International, Matthew VanDyke, also chimed in:
"You destroyed a large part of the historic White House that belonged to the people to build a gaudy monstrosity for parties that only the rich and powerful will ever enjoy."
Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier have been arrested on federal gambling-related charges, according to two senior law enforcement officials.
The 31-year-old Rozier was arrested Thursday morning in Orlando, Florida, and it's not clear where Billups was arrested, but his team played last night in Portland, reported NBC News.
"Members and associates of organized crime groups are also among the couple of dozen expected to face criminal charges in two separate illegal gambling-related cases," the network reported.
The 49-year-old Billups has been a coach since 2021 following a 17-year career, and he was elected last year to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as a player.
"Law enforcement’s interest in Billups comes four months after another NBA star, Gilbert Arenas, was arrested and indicted after the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California alleged he was involved in helping operate illegal, high-stakes poker games out of a Los Angeles-area home that Arenas owned," NBC reported.
Former NBA player Jontay Porter pleaded guilty in federal court and banned for life in 2024 for violating the league’s sports gambling rules after he allegedly bet on games as a Toronto Raptors player and disclosing confidential information about his own participation to gamblers.
Donald Trump is a huge problem, but there is a "much, much, much, much, much bigger" one, according to a former lawmaker who is now a registered Democrat.
Joe Walsh was once a Tea Party Republican congressman, but he abandoned his party with the coming of Trump, became an independent, and is now a Dem. He sounded the alarm on Thursday about the lengths Republicans will go to avoid criticizing Trump.
"If Donald Trump next week began demolishing the Washington Monument—because he wanted to change the structure of the Washington Monument and make it look more like Mar-a-Lago or the shape of a T for Trump or whatever—would any Republican say anything?" he asked. "I mean that. Would any Republican object? Would anybody on Fox News say, 'Stop. That’s too far'? Would any of Trump’s voters, any of his MAGA supporters say anything?"
Walsh concludes that, no, they would not stand up to the president.
"Donald Trump is demolishing the White House right now as we speak, and no Republican has said anything. No Trump supporter has said anything. Nobody on Fox News or OAN or Newsmax or right-wing talk radio, my former home, has said anything. Donald Trump has basically torn the East Wing of the White House down all by himself, and Republicans haven’t said s---," the former lawmaker added.
Still, he warns, there's a larger concern than Trump's actions.
"You see, Trump is a problem, a big problem. He’s everything our Founders feared. He’s an utterly corrupt, dishonest, cruel, ignorant, psychopathic, lawless fascist. That’s a big, big problem to have that in the White House," he wrote. "But the much, much, much, much, much bigger problem are all the fascist enablers—every enabler and appeaser over the years, these past 10 years, who have allowed Trump to do what he does. Trump could not be demolishing the White House as we speak if his enablers didn’t let him."
Walsh also added, "Trump would not be demanding $230 million from the Justice Department if his enablers didn’t let him. Trump could not have tried to overthrow an American election if his enablers didn’t let him. Trump couldn’t have dismantled USAID, leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children around the world, if his enablers had not let him. Trump couldn’t be going after and trying to imprison his political opponents if his enablers did not let him."
Trump on Wednesday said, "The Cattle Ranchers, who I love, don’t understand that the only reason they are doing so well, for the first time in decades, is because I put Tariffs on cattle coming into the United States, including a 50% Tariff on Brazil."
"If it weren’t for me, they would be doing just as they’ve done for the past 20 years — Terrible!" he claimed. "It would be nice if they would understand that, but they also have to get their prices down, because the consumer is a very big factor in my thinking, also!"
The association reposted Trump's comments on Facebook, along with a reply.
"The reality is that ranchers’ success is driven by their own hard work," it stated. "America’s cattlemen and women operate in one of the most competitive marketplaces in the world. U.S. cattle producers are proud to provide the safest, highest-quality beef on earth. We simply ask that the government not undercut them by importing more Argentinian beef in order to manipulate prices."
The group continued, adding, "Cattlemen and women cannot stand behind President Trump while he undercuts the future of family farmers and ranchers by importing Argentinian beef."
"It is imperative that President Trump and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins let cattle markets work without interference," the organization then concluded. "If the administration is truly an ally of America’s cattle producers, we call on him to abandon this effort to manipulate markets and focus instead on completing the promised New World Screwworm facility in Texas; make additional investments that protect the domestic cattle herd from foreign animal diseases such as FMD; and address regulatory burdens, such as delisting of the gray wolf and addressing the scourge of black vultures."
A clinical psychologist said on Wednesday that President Donald Trump's cognitive decline has become clear, and it's putting Americans at "grave risk."
Dr. John Gartner, clinical psychologist and former Johns Hopkins professor, who unofficially diagnosed Trump with "malignant narcissism" during his first term, discussed Trump's cognitive decline on a new episode of "The Daily Beats Podcast" with host Joanna Coles, the outlet's chief content officer.
Gartner pointed out several signs of Trump's cognitive decline, from the way he seems to make up endings of words that he can't fully remember to the way his mind makes concatenations like a "stone skipping along the water."
While his condition seems under control for now, Gartner warned that Trump's already "impulsive and erratic behavior" could get worse.
"It's so impulsive and erratic, and this guy has the nuclear football," Gartner said. "This is really someone who could wake up in a state of complete confusion and their kind of irritation and do something catastrophic. And no one is going to stop him."
Gartner said the eight recent boat strikes the U.S. military has carried out are a sign of Trump's worsening condition.
"It's a blatant violation of our law of international law," Gartner said. "It's going to get worse."
Michael Wolff plans to subpoena President Donald Trump, Melania Trump, and convicted child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell in the lawsuit he filed against the first lady on Tuesday, the reporter and Trump biographer said.
A legal threat against him by Melania Trump last week represented “exactly … what a SLAPP suit is,” Wolff said, going on to define “strategic lawsuits against public participation,” or intimidation suits, as weapons wielded by wealthy people saying, “We're suing you so you shut up.”
“That's against the law in New York state, to use the law for such purposes,” Wolff told the former Clinton aide Sidney Blumenthal and Michael Popok, a lawyer and host of the Legal AF podcast, on Wednesday.
“So last night, we went, we sued. We sued in court in New York, asking for a declaratory judgment, a judgment that says, ‘You can't do this.’
“And this process will give us now the right to call witnesses, subpoena power, and those witnesses might very well, will very well include Melania Trump and Donald Trump, and therefore afford me the opportunity to really have an in-depth discussion with them, under oath before a court reporter, about their relationship with … Jeffrey Epstein.”
Melania Trump’s threat to sue Wolff arose from comments he made on his Daily Beast podcast, Inside Trump’s Head, about how the first lady met her husband.
Pictures showing both Trumps with Epstein, the late financier and sex offender whose crimes and ties to powerful men are the subject of renewed and fierce attention, have long been discussed.
Wolff has spoken widely about interviews he conducted with Epstein in which Epstein’s long friendship with Donald Trump and their acrimonious falling out were discussed in depth.
Wolff has said Epstein showed him pictures of Trump in potentially embarrassing poses with young women. He also said he presumes the FBI now possesses such photos.
Epstein died in prison in 2019, when Trump was first in the White House. Authorities said the death was a suicide.
Six years on, intense speculation over the so-called “Epstein files” continues, stoked by the emergence of documents prominently including a suggestive 50th birthday poem and drawing from Trump, and by the publication of the autobiography of Virginia Giuffre, an Epstein victim who killed herself earlier this year.
“Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein had this long, long, long friendship,” Wolff told Blumenthal and Popok. “Really a joined-by-the-hip friendship. So there will be a lot of questions” in court.
Blumenthal asked: “And there may be other witnesses called as well?”
Wolff said: “Yes … anyone who might have information about their relationship, Donald Trump's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, Melania Trump's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and his circle.”
Referring to Epstein’s long-time partner, Blumenthal said: “You could call Ghislaine Maxwell, couldn’t you?”
“Oh, we certainly could,” Wolff said.
Maxwell's involvement in Epstein's affairs and links to men such as Britain's Prince Andrew are a major focus of Giuffre's memoir.
Recently, Maxwell was moved to a relatively comfortable federal facility after a controversial jailhouse interview with Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general who was previously Donald Trump’s lawyer.
Donald and Melania Trump vehemently deny wrongdoing in relation to Epstein. In August, the Beast withdrew a story about the Trumps and Epstein that was based on comments by Wolff.
“I'm very fond of The Daily Beast,” Wolff said, “… a young person in the office wrote an article based on the podcast that I did. And in fact incorrectly said that I said that Jeffrey Epstein introduced Melania to Donald Trump … I didn’t say it and I don’t know … that he made the direct introduction.”
A spokesman for the first lady, Nick Clemens, recently said: “First Lady Melania Trump’s attorneys are actively ensuring immediate retractions and apologies by those who spread malicious, defamatory falsehoods. The true account of how the First Lady met President Trump is in her best-selling book, ‘Melania.’”
In that book, Melania Trump says she met Donald Trump at the Kit Kat Club in New York City in September 1998. Trump was with another woman but asked Melania out anyway, she writes.
On the Legal AF podcast, Blumenthal quoted recent remarks in which Donald Trump appeared to say he was behind his wife’s legal threats, saying he said he had “done pretty well on these lawsuits lately” and had told Melania to “go forward” because “Jeffrey Epstein has nothing to do with Melania and I introducing but they do that. They make up stories.”
Wolff said suing Melania was “not about defamation. This is about the effort, on the part of the Trumps, to shut people up. And it's an extraordinary effort.
“I don't know of any instance in the modern age where the President of the United States or the First Lady, in this instance basically they are one and the same, have sued the media … and they have done it now repeatedly, over and over and over again and … it has worked. It has chilled everybody's sense of safety in our business.
“… This is the White House in all its power, acting against the media and me … I'm hardly the media. I'm just a single writer.”
Though Wolff said “frankly, it is frightening” to take on the Trumps, he said he felt he did not have any alternative.
“Thinking this through, ‘How do I get this to go away,’ I just couldn't figure out a way, and also, I felt, well, you know, damn it. You know, there's a responsibility here. You got to do it now.”
Faced with the expense of mounting the suit, Wolff said he would probably ask for financial support from the public.
Wolff also noted that in 2018, Donald Trump tried to stop the publication of Fire and Fury, the first of Wolff’s four books on the president. When the publisher refused to blink, Wolff noted, Trump backed down.
