President Donald Trump made a cryptic announcement on Monday about an upcoming speech to the nation later this week.
Trump revealed the news on his Truth Social platform.
"President Trump will be making a Speech to the Nation on Thursday evening, at 9 P.M. Eastern. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
It was unclear what topic or reason prompted the address.
President Donald Trump stumbled Monday morning during a call with Fox News while discussing former President Barack Obama, but a brief remark he let slip suggested he was reviving “the old 'Secret Muslim' attack” on his political rival, journalist Tommy Christopher argued Monday.
Trump was pressed for an update by the cast of “Fox & Friends” regarding the U.S. war against Iran, which over the weekend saw an uptick in violence as both sides exchanged fire. Trump floated reinstating his administration’s naval blockade on Iran and charging fees to transiting vessels – which he has since ordered by decree – before pivoting to attack Obama.
“Obama was the worst of all because Obama actually went to their side, Obama, because, you know, he’s a… well… let’s not take – let’s not say, let’s leave that for another time,” Trump said.
Writing in an analysis published Monday on the “Jim Acosta Show” Substack, Christopher flagged Trump's use of the phrase “went to their side” as evidence that the long-debunked claim that Obama is Muslim was top of mind, though noted the attack petered out without Trump having “completed the thought, feigning discretion.”
Christopher also flagged Trump’s attacks on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear deterrence deal reached by the Obama administration with Iran.
“Trump repeatedly claims President Obama ‘went over to their side’ – even though it was Obama who secured a much better deal than the one Trump is trying and failing to get – and weirdly tries to force one of his gaffes into actual reality,” Christopher wrote.
“While he was at the NATO Summit, Trump referred to the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] as the ‘JCPOC,’ and on Fox, he claimed that somebody was telling him ‘maybe it’s a C, it ends with a C.’ What’s even more stunning is that this rambling, falsehood-riddled, and unhinged response went on for over six minutes. But this will barely be a story.”
Trump on Iran: "Obama was the worst of all because Obama actually went to their side, because, you know, he's a -- well, let's not say. Let's leave that for another time." pic.twitter.com/WfukgSITz2
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 13, 2026
Lindsey Graham's only surviving family member said she was "kind of like devastated" as President Donald Trump publicly pushed her to fill her late brother's Senate seat.
Darline Graham Nordone, 62, of Lexington, South Carolina, was asked Monday about her reaction to the president's suggestion after Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) died Saturday night of an aortic dissection, a tear in the body's main artery. His office announced the death early Sunday.
About a day later, on Monday, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he had recommended Nordone to Republican Gov. Henry McMaster (R-SC) for the seat. McMaster has a 4 p.m. press conference scheduled to announce his pick.
"Actually, I'm just kind of like devastated right now," Nordone told the New York Post in a brief phone call Monday minutes after Trump's post went up.
Their parents died within 15 months of each other in the 1970s, leaving Darline orphaned at 13, according to the Post. Lindsey, then 22 and still in college, became her legal guardian. He later joined the Air Force and eventually used his military benefits to support her.
"He's always been there for me," Darline said in a video posted by Lindsey Graham's office. "No matter what."
Trump called his suggestion a tribute in his Truth Social post.
"This would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly!" he wrote.
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), who said he has known Darline "for years," backed the president's push.
"I have faith in Gov. McMaster that he will make the right decision, but I would support the president's recommendation," Wilson told the Post.
Darline would serve through Jan. 3, the end of Lindsey Graham's current term, according to FITSNews. A special primary is in the works for Aug. 11 to replace him on the November ballot, FITSNews reported.
Lindsey Graham often said his proudest achievement had nothing to do with the Senate. In a 2015 interview with C-SPAN, he reflected on his sister's life.
"Of all the things that have happened in my life, her turning out so well is the highlight of it by far," Lindsey Graham told C-SPAN, per the Post.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faced backlash Monday after announcing a new task force to hunt and prosecute "leakers," drawing an immediate rebuke from CNN anchor Jake Tapper.
Hegseth posted a video to X Monday morning announcing that the Pentagon and the Justice Department had created a joint task force to identify and prosecute anyone who leaks sensitive military information.
"Some call them whistleblowers," Tapper fired back. "When they're alerting the public to government lies and malfeasance, for instance."
"To leak sensitive national defense information and secrets betrays the men and women who wear our nation's uniform," Hegseth said in the video. "Those who betray that trust will be met with the full force of the law."
In a second post, Tapper linked to the Pentagon's own inspector general report on Hegseth's use of Signal, a commercial messaging app. "I know of one leak that put our brave pilots at risk!" Tapper wrote.
That report, released in December 2025, found that Hegseth had shared sensitive strike details — including the quantity and strike times of manned U.S. aircraft over hostile territory — on an unsecured app hours before those pilots launched their mission over Yemen. The Pentagon watchdog concluded Hegseth "did not comply" with department policy. The journalist who received the information had been inadvertently added to the chat by then-National Security Adviser Mike Waltz.
"Not as dangerous as installing an angry adolescent at the Pentagon to play 'Secretary of War' and botch an armed conflict in the Middle East," former CNN White House correspondent John Harwood wrote on X, also pushing back against Hegseth's announcement.
Monday's crackdown was not Hegseth's first. In April 2025, as the Signal scandal swirled and his own conduct was under investigation, Hegseth suspended three senior Pentagon officials he accused of leaking — then went on Fox News to declare: "Once a leaker, always a leaker, often a leaker."
"Accountability starts at the top," Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) told The Intercept at the time. "Secretary Hegseth has refused to take responsibility for his own mishandling of classified information, but has readily punished others for far less."
A federal judge ruled Monday that President Donald Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS was an improper exercise in self-dealing, and barred him from claiming that the sweeping tax protections he walked away with came out of a legitimate settlement, the New York Times reported.
Judge Kathleen M. Williams did not explicitly kill the deal Trump cut with his own government, which amounts to amnesty from any investigation into tax returns he, his family and their businesses have already filed. But her scathing 56-page ruling out of federal court in Miami laid bare what the negotiations between Trump's personal lawyers and senior Justice Department officials actually were.
"The nature of the suit itself and the conduct of the Parties and counsel from its filing make plain that this was an attempt to use the Court to provide some legitimacy to an agreement to confer immunity to people and entities affiliated with the President and to earmark billions of dollars from American taxpayers to redress grievances not defined in the law," Williams wrote.
She was blunt about who was on which side.
"It is risible to suggest that there was ever adverseness between the Parties," she wrote.
Williams noted that for the 109 days the case was open, no attorney representing the United States filed an appearance or a single document. Trump, she wrote, controls the IRS and the Treasury Department, and his own executive order bars government employees from advancing any legal position that contradicts his.
At one point she quoted Trump back at himself. "I'm suing myself," he said last October.
The ruling came two months after the Justice Department released a pair of documents presented as formal agreements settling the suit, which stemmed from the leak of Trump's tax returns during his first term. One granted Trump, his family and his businesses wide-ranging immunity from tax inquiries. The other created a $1.776 billion fund to compensate Trump allies who say they were victims of government weaponization.
Williams was unimpressed by the number. The figure "speaks of a 'branding' effort rather than a deliberate and thoughtful calculation of damages," she wrote in a footnote.
After an outcry from Republicans on Capitol Hill, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department would not move forward with the fund. He said Trump's protections from IRS scrutiny would remain in place.
Williams also referred Trump's attorney to the Florida Bar for potential disciplinary proceedings.
She closed with, "In sum, the facts before this Court demonstrate there was never adverseness between the Parties; there was never a case or controversy; and there was never a question as to who would prevail."
Vice President JD Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, have angered neighbors in a quiet horse country town, where they plan to bring their family and take over an $8.5 million, 423-acre horse farming property, according to reports on Monday.
The Secret Service has already started shutting down roads for the vice president's motorcade, and helicopters have hovered above as the family prepares to begin leasing the Wolver Hill estate in Middleburg, Virginia, PunchUp reported. The location is owned by Charles "Chuck" Kuhn, a top landowner in Virginia and "one of its most aggressive data-center developers."
The Vances are expecting their fourth child, a baby boy, due later this month. They're reportedly hoping to relocate to the area as residents have started voicing their frustration about their "imminent arrival" in the town of barely 700 people, which is known as the "horse and hunt capital."
One woman in a private Facebook group expressed her annoyance.
"They’re invading so much of our private lives… from the pool disaster, interference with FIFA, our 4th of July, wrecking the White House and now HIM," she said, referring to Vance and the Trump administration.
"Here in our lovely little burg without a thought as to the vile daily upset he is causing," she added. "He needs to go back to the Naval Observatory and STAY THERE til we can rid ourselves of this threat."
The Vance family has lived primarily at the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C.
Some questioned why the Vances would want a horse property in the small town.
"Congratulations to Middleburg, which will be locked down on the regular so these people can play on a big farm they don’t know how to take care of," another person wrote.
Donald Trump’s personal choice to replace Lindsey Graham in the Senate after the South Carolina Republican passed away over the weekend landed with a thud with some of his most avid supporters.
On Monday, the president took to Truth Social and proposed, “I recommended, to Governor Henry McMaster, Lindsey Graham’s wonderful sister, Darline, to serve as interim Senator from the Great State of South Carolina. This would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly! President DONALD J. TRUMP”
In the comments, after the flood of bot memes, fans of the president made their displeasure known, with one admitting, “Good Griefeses my President, NO. Sometimes I wonder about you, when the Hand of God is not physically moving you you sometimes have goofy thoughts.”
Ex-Marine Douglas Lubliner agreed and wrote, “The logic of this move is escaping me. I didn’t even like the guy, now we are paying tribute to him with an all important Senate seat? WTF?”
America First supporter Ava Grace saw a larger problem in the GOP-controlled Senate.
She wrote, “How long are you gonna put up with John Thunes b———t as he fails America? How about that worthless old piece of s—t McConnell? Mr. President, we love you, but as Americans were fed up with this Republican Congress. It’s time for you to start pulling the trigger on removing them from the seats any way you possibly can. Also, we’re retired of this Islamic takeover of this country. No city no county no state should allow any more mosques to come in. They are taking over and in one state they have a town where they practice Sharia law. How is that possible? They are a cancer and they need to be sent back home. Every last single one of them.”
Carryingmarine01, who claims to be “#PureBlood” and MAGA, was furious and wrote, “NO YOU DUMB MORON. LET THE TRAITOR and his fam dynasty of TRAITORS GO.... MOVE ON..... Get people that LOVE AMERICA.”
“Why? She has absolutely NO political experience nor background, and she appears to have stayed out of the political landscape that her brother thrived in for most of his career. This just doesn't make sense. Make it make sense!” Frannie asked.
John Fisher, who suspects the “deep state” has taken over the government, accused, “Nepotism? Really? That seems super swampy.”
As the United States ramps up its war against Iran, President Donald Trump may be nearing his "economic and political pain threshold," political analyst Trita Parsi argued Monday, a shift that may have already sealed his and the GOP's fate in the impending midterm elections.
“The United States is now only four months away from the midterm elections, dramatically shortening Trump's economic and political pain threshold,” Parsi, the co-founder of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, wrote in an analysis published Monday.
“In February, the administration could plausibly argue that the oil shock was temporary and that prices would normalize before voters went to the polls. A renewed conflict today would push its most visible economic consequences directly into the campaign: higher gasoline prices, inflation, interest rates, and rising food, airline, freight, and utility costs.”
On Monday, Trump announced that the United States would be “taking over” the Strait of Hormuz and reinstating its naval blockade on Iran, an announcement that came after Parsi’s analysis was published earlier Monday morning. As such, the “renewed conflict” Parsi feared appears increasingly likely following Trump's decree, despite the analyst's calls for a diplomatic solution.
“Although the United States could, given enough time, degrade Iran's ability to threaten shipping in the Persian Gulf, there is little reason to believe it could do so before the economic and political costs became prohibitive for Trump,” Parsi wrote.
“It is essentially the same strategic reality he confronted in February. The difference is that he lacked the benefit of hindsight then. Now he has it – though it does not appear to have mattered.”
As the United States resumes attacks on Iran, oil prices skyrocketed Monday up to $80 a barrel, with brent crude already up by around 5% since Friday, The New York Times reported. A spokesperson for U.S. Central Command told the Times that Trump’s naval blockade would be enforced starting later on Monday.
Vice President JD Vance had, arguably, a worse week last week than Democrats, who are still reeling from Senate candidate Graham Platner’s campaign collapse in the wake of credible sexual assault accusations.
That is the opinion of Wall Street Editorial Board member Allysia Finley, who wrote on Monday that the veep just ended a week that he would likely want to forget.
In her column, she compared the Ohio Republican to “the classic children’s book ‘Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.'"
In a word, she said Vance’s attempt to solve the administration’s Iran war debacle was left in “tatters,” and adding insult to injury, Donald Trump switched his allegiance to Ukraine once again — at odds with comments made by Vance.
“The cease-fire he negotiated with the Iranian regime went up in smoke. His foreign policy of retreat and defeat took another blow after Russia banned diesel exports due to fuel shortages caused by Ukraine’s long-range strikes on its refineries. Then President Trump diverged from him by signaling increased support for Ukraine,” she wrote.
"To cap it off, hedge-fund magnate Ken Griffin, a major Republican donor, said he’d favor Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a matchup between the two for the 2028 GOP presidential nomination,” she continued before adding an “Oof.”
Unlike the Alexander of the children’s book, she wrote, “the vice president’s travails are a result of his own doing.”
“Iran’s leaders understood Mr. Vance’s aims better than the other way around. They knew Mr. Trump was losing patience with the war as midterm elections approached. They have squeezed the desperation to bring an end to the war for all it was worth. After the administration lifted its blockade and sanctions, the regime cranked up oil exports, which allowed it to rake in billions of dollars to finance its terrorism,” she explained before calling out the vice president as “naive,” which could explain why a powerful donor like Griffin threw him overboard.
“Mr. Vance might dismiss Mr. Griffin as a ‘business elite’ who ‘worships’ the market, as he does other traditional Republicans. But Mr. Griffin represents a sizable share of Republicans whom the vice president alienates at his own political risk,” she warned.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche faces Epstein survivors at his Senate confirmation hearing this week, with one expert predicting he'll be left "squirming."
Blanche is set to testify Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to The Bulwark. Kristol writes that Democrats intend to call at least one survivor as a witness on Thursday.
Nineteen survivors have already gone on record opposing his nomination, according to CNN. Blanche has refused to meet with any of them, the survivors have said.
Bulwark publisher Sarah Longwell wrote that Democrats will have plenty of opportunities to make Blanche look like a "corrupt, unqualified, incompetent hack" — and that the Epstein files are their sharpest weapon.
"When voters scroll through their social media feeds after the hearing, Democrats should ensure that they get clip after clip of Blanche squirming to justify his handling of the Epstein files," Longwell wrote.
Bulwark editor William Kristol agreed, predicting survivors will show up in force.
"It's also likely that when Blanche testifies on Wednesday, Epstein survivors will be present," Kristol wrote on Monday.
"Will Blanche, who has refused to meet with them, acknowledge them?" he continued. "Will he apologize for the botched redaction process over which he presided that exposed them to further pain and harassment?"
Kristol expects Democrats to call "at least one courageous Epstein survivor" as a witness Thursday — and said that testimony could be the "highlight of the hearing."
The survivors' opposition centers on Blanche's role in overseeing the release of the Epstein files. In a joint statement obtained by CNN, 19 women said Blanche "failed to deliver transparency" and called his nomination "failing upward, plain and simple."
"We have seen consistently over the past year his behavior in regards to the Epstein case is just really concerning," survivor Liz Stein told CNN.
That concern traces back to a Situation Room meeting Blanche attended on July 17, 2025, aimed at containing the political fallout from the Epstein files — first revealed by The New York Times.
"He was in charge of the process and the entire release of the Epstein files," former Attorney General Pam Bondi said in closed-door congressional testimony in May, according to CNN.
Just hours after Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) died Saturday night of a sudden illness, President Donald Trump told NBC News he already had “somebody great” in mind to replace him on an interim basis, and on Monday, finally revealed that person's identity.
“I recommended, to [South Carolina GOP] Governor Henry McMaster, Lindsey Graham’s wonderful sister, Darline, to serve as interim Senator from the Great State of South Carolina," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. "This would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly!”
Darline Graham Nordone is the younger sister of the late senator, and has largely stayed out of the public eye. Graham adopted Nordone in his early 20s after their parents passed within 15 months of each other, which left Nordone orphaned as a child.
Per South Carolina law, McMaster may make an appointment to fill a vacant Senate seat on an interim basis. Graham’s death has also triggered a special GOP primary election, the winner of which will face off in the November general election.
Goldman Sachs' messy attempt to move past a damaging scandal related to Jeffrey Epstein has just gotten messier.
According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, attorney Kathryn Ruemmler, general counsel for the financial giant, was supposed to move on after her ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein became public and too embarrassing to ignore.
Instead, she's still there despite an announcement that she would be leaving in June — and that is creating tension among staffers and impeding the hiring of her replacement.
The attorney has been under the gun since a Justice Department report divulged that Ruemmler had a history of accepting lavish gifts from Epstein, coached him on dodging negative press while sharing "intimate details" about her dating life with the convicted sex offender.
Ruemmler initially announced her resignation in June, ostensibly to spare the bank from further distraction. But she didn't actually leave, with the Journal reporting that she is "staying on in an advisory role and to help the transition to her successor, the bank told employees last month.
The prolonged limbo has created headaches for Goldman's leadership. Ruemmler has been instrumental in vetting candidates for her former position, but her lingering presence has spooked external candidates who "are wary of taking the role because it is unclear how long Ruemmler will stay on and in what capacity, they said."
The report notes that Ruemmler "has been on a campaign to reset the narrative about her relationship with Epstein, keeping it alive in the headlines and the halls of Goldman Sachs."
She's also hired her own public relations team and recently participated in an interview for a New York Times guest essay, signaling that she intends to actively shape how her story is told, the Journal is reporting, while noting that, behind closed doors, Ruemmler has accused other Goldman executives of leaking damaging information to the media — a charge that underscores the internal finger-pointing roiling the bank.
Goldman Sachs spokesman Tony Fratto characterized Ruemmler's decision to stay on as a practical necessity, explaining, "The leadership and the Board appreciate her willingness to stay and help as she has been an excellent General Counsel.”
President Donald Trump uttered a remark Sunday “that didn’t get nearly enough attention,” according to the "Jim Acosta Show" Substack, one that saw “the mask slip in a bombshell moment” that carried with it a troubling implication.
Trump called into NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday to discuss the recent and sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and while the bulk of the discussion centered on the South Carolina Republican, Trump snapped at NBC News' Kristen Welker when she briefly steered the conversation elsewhere.
Welker asked Trump whether the Strait of Hormuz was open as his administration had claimed earlier that morning, despite Iranian officials declaring it to be “closed” the day before.
“I don’t want to talk about it because I want to honor the life of Lindsey Graham,” Trump said. “So I don’t want to talk about it. I told you that before the call!”
Welker responded by saying “yeah” before pivoting back to Graham, an exchange that Acosta flagged as troubling.
“That sounds an awful lot like there were demands set in exchange for this interview that were consistent with what went down on CNN,” wrote journalist Tommy Christopher in an analysis published Monday on Acosta's Substack.
“It also seems like even if those demands weren’t explicitly agreed to – although Welker did say ‘Yeah’ – both anchors largely complied with them and got back in line when Trump became displeased.”
Another anchor was hit with scrutiny over their Sunday interview with Trump: CNN’s own Jake Tapper, who was widely mocked Monday for failing to push back on the president as he dictated the direction of their interview.
“The exchange was a bad look,” Christopher said of Tapper’s interview with Trump. “He’s also taking heat for the volumes of insanity he ignored, after spilling gallons of ink calling the widely-known aging of President Biden ‘a cover-up.’”
Copyright © 2026 Raw Story Media, Inc. PO Box 21050, Washington, D.C. 20009 |
Masthead
|
Privacy Policy
|
Manage Preferences
|
Debug Logs
For corrections contact
corrections@rawstory.com
, for support contact
support@rawstory.com
.
