Reacting to all the criticism piled on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during a combative hearing on Thursday, Politico’s Jonathan Martin focused on a statement read into the record by Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), which could be interpreted to signal Kennedy may soon find himself out of the job.
In a clip shown on "Morning Joe,” the Wyoming conservative, who is also a medical doctor, came armed with written comments critical of Kennedy which Martin claimed should raise eyebrows.
"The biggest news, I thought in those clips you played was the role of John Barrasso,” he stated after MSNBC ran a supercut of Republicans challenging Kennedy.
"This is hugely important,” he continued. “John Barrasso is not just a Trump supporter, certainly, he's the number two ranking Senate Republican. He's the Republican whip and for him to sit up there reading from prepared remarks that was not off the cuff, he knew what he was doing.”
“It was a planned attack to sit and read those remarks from Wyoming, by the way, not exactly the Upper West Side of Manhattan,” he insisted. “I thought was very significant and reflected the profound frustration in the Senate GOP Caucus about Kennedy, and also just about confirming these folks who Trump then fires two weeks later.”
President Donald Trump “may have violated the law” according to a bombshell report Thursday that revealed the president had personally greenlit a covert military operation targeting North Korea.
According to two dozen government officials and military personnel who spoke with the New York Times, Trump had signed off in 2019 on an operation to deploy SEAL Team 6’s Red Squadron – the same unit that carried out the 2011 assassination of Osama Bin Laden – to the shores of North Korea to plant an electronic device to intercept the communications of its Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.
The operation was ultimately a failure, with the operation being compromised by a small boat approaching the team’s mini-subs. The team ended up firing upon and killing the boat’s two to three passengers, later learned to likely be civilians that had been “diving for shellfish,” according to New York Times reporters Dave Philipps and Matthew Cole, who spoke with the officials under the condition of anonymity.
And, while the team’s actions likely constituted a violation of international law – both by the violation of North Korea’s sovereignty by crossing into its borders, and the extrajudicial execution of civilians – Trump’s signing off on the operation may itself have violated the law as well.
“The Trump administration did not notify key members of Congress who oversee intelligence operations, before or after the mission,” the report reads. “The lack of notification may have violated the law. The White House declined to comment.”
The operation took place amid Trump’s attempts to broker peace with the East Asian nation, a long-time adversary to the United States, in large part for rejecting American influence and instead cozying up to the Soviet Union. In June of that year, Trump became the first United States president to set foot in North Korea in what was a widely-covered spectacle at the time.
As to Trump’s criminal culpability for greenlighting the operation, Matthew Waxman, a professor at Columbia University, told the New York Times that while some gray area existed for presidents to order covert operations without notifying Congress, in this instance, it was more likely than not that Trump’s decision ran afoul of standard protocol.
“The point is to ensure that Congress isn’t kept in the dark when major stuff is going on,” Waxman said. “This is exactly the kind of thing that would normally be briefed to the committees and something the committees would expect to be told about.”
A conservative commentator's argument was belittled by another panelist after he defended President Donald Trump's decision to rename the Department of Defense.
The president intends to sign an executive order changing the agency's name to the Department of War, which it had been called from 1789 until its 1947 reorganization, and panelists on "CNN This Morning" debated the purpose and meaning of Trump's plans – which he might not even be able to do without congressional action.
"We know he cares deeply about branding, and as he said, he wants to come off as more offensive and more strong and mightier," said journalist Eugene Scott. "But I think it also draws attention to the fact that this president campaigned promising to end or decrease America's involvement in a number of global conflicts and just bringing people's attention to the word 'war,' I think, will bring their attention to the fact that he hasn't actually done that, and some things have, in fact, gotten worse in terms of America's involvement in wars."
New York Times podcast host Lulu Garcia-Navarro pointed out that Trump's biggest troop deployments so far have been in American cities, which made her question with whom the president believed he was at war, but her conservative foil Rob Bluey expressed excitement about the department's rebrand.
"It was a big topic at the National Conservatism Conference this week, not the name change, but the issue that Eugene talks about and the fact that this president is different than past Republicans in that he does want to be seen as the peace president," Bluey said, "and, I mean, that is clear from the first six months in office. I think it's why you have a move afoot on Capitol Hill with Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Congressman Greg Steube (R-FL) to put this in legislation and make this name change official. Obviously, it's one of those things that I think that this president wants to make sure that he leaves his mark, and this is one way that he's going to try to do it."
Host Audie Cornish pointed out the mixed message between the Department of War and Trump's transparent thirst for a Nobel Peace Prize, but Bluey argued that a more aggressive-sounding name might help improve national security.
"Perhaps, but I think at the same time, that deterrence that you talked about in terms of his peace-through-strength doctrine is what he's going for," said Bluey, executive editor of The Heritage Foundation's Daily Caller website. "We don't want to enter into war, but maybe it is the deterrent that the message that will send to those adversaries in the world, whether it be Russia or China, they want to provoke a war that may have them think twice."
Garcia-Navarro was far from persuaded by that argument.
"One could argue that this is a sign of weakness and not a sign of strength," she said. "I mean, if you need to carry a big sign saying, 'We are the Department of War and we will mess you up,' is that really kind of showing strength, and when we've had a long period in the United States since the end of World War II, where there has been pretty much peace, stability and prosperity, and so I don't know that the name change is exactly might be signaling the thing that he wants to be signaling. However, at the end of the day, war, defense – it's still soldiers, boots on the ground. It does what it does."
Vice President JD Vance’s rush to defend embattled Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after his combative hearing before senators sitting on the Senate Finance Committee earned him a scolding from The Wall Street Journal on Thursday, and an MSNBC panel joined the pile-on Friday morning.
After the controversial Trump appointee battled with lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, Vance jumped on social media and wrote, “When I see all these senators trying to lecture and ‘gotcha’ Bobby Kennedy today all I can think is: You all support off-label, untested, and irreversible hormonal ‘therapies’ for children, mutilating our kids and enriching big pharma. You’re full of s--- and everyone knows it.”
That led the WSJ editors to scold him with “Classy, as ever, Mr. Vice President,” before adding, ”None of this is true of Dr. Cassidy, Dr. Barrasso, and other Senators, and the Vice President knows it. Mr. Vance is trying to rally Republicans to RFK’s side by framing this dispute in a polarized partisan framework, either/or, us/them. That may serve his political purposes as he courts RFK’s supporters with 2028 in mind, but it won’t win over anyone paying attention to the health secretary’s contradictions as he attacks life-saving vaccines.”
After portions of the editorial were read on “Morning Joe” on Friday, MSNBC contributor Katty Kay interjected, “I mean, in some ways, it was a frustrating hearing because you had a lot of slipperiness going on, right? You had the secretary saying that he supported mRNA, while we know he's doing something else. He's saying that, yes, covid vaccines will be available to everybody, but also saying at the same time, but it's not recommended for certain people who are healthy, which then means that they may not be available in pharmacies and insurers may not have it.”
Co-host Joe Scarborough then returned the focus to Vance’s comments.
"Basically, JD Vance, one of the dumbest things that, you know, this administration always does, this MAGA base always does is they take an issue like this and say, ‘Oh, you must be with like trans, you must be with mutilating children for surgeries when they're transitioning,’” he exclaimed. “He did that, yes. Total lies. Is he really saying that about [GOP senator] John Barrasso? Is he really saying that about [GOP senator] Bill Cassidy? Is he really saying that about the 75 percent of Republicans who oppose what RFK Jr. is saying?”
“Does JD Vance really think that 75 percent of Republicans support, like, trans operations for minors?” he asked. “Because that's what he said yesterday, and I'm so glad the Wall Street Journal –– there's only so much stupidity you can put up with. I'm so glad the Wall Street Journal editorial page called him out. But I know it's going to be hard. I mean, but outside of the Know-Nothings, what other political movement has produced such backward-looking stupidity?”
President Donald Trump lamented what he characterized as the "loss" of India and Russia to China Friday morning following the Chinese summit this week, and in a social media post, sarcastically gave the two countries his blessing and well wishes for their “long and prosperous future together.”
“Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China,” Trump wrote in an online post on his social media platform Truth Social. “May they have a long and prosperous future together!”
Trump shared an image of Chinese President Xi Jinping walking alongside Russia’s Vladimir Putin and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the three of them having grown closer amid Trump’s antagonistic trade policy with India, and failed peace talks with Russia.
The leaders met this past week in eastern China for an annual summit, where Xi took several jabs at the United States, and called for world leaders attending the event to reject a “Cold War mentality,” a not-so-subtle jab at the United States’ hostile posture toward China.
While Russia has historically never been among the United States’ closest allies, India has, historically, been a key trading partner. That relationship has soured during Trump’s second term, however, with the president slapping the nation with a 50% tariff rate in retaliation for its continued purchasing of Russian oil, which India, in turn, responded to by pausing purchases of American-made weapons.
President Donald Trump heaped insults on a longtime nemesis after the individual announced his retirement from Congress.
The president has sparred with Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) since the 1980s, first clashing over Manhattan development projects, and especially during his first term, when the veteran lawmaker helmed articles of impeachment through the House Judiciary Committee, and Trump laid into him in a Friday morning social media post.
"Jerry Nadler, one of the most disgusting Congressmen in USA History is, at long last, calling it 'quits' – He’s finally leaving Congress!" Trump posted on Truth Social at 6:15 a.m. EST. "I’ve been beating this bum for 40 years, first as a New York City developer, where he opposed me, for no reason, at every corner, but could NEVER stop me from getting the job done, and then, as your President, where this psychopathic nut job, together with Crazy Nancy Pelosi, Impeached me twice, AND LOST, wasting Millions of Dollars in time and taxpayer money."
Trump was ultimately impeached by the Democratic-led House in December 2019 over his Ukraine extortion scheme, but a Republican-led Senate declined to convict and remove him, and he was later impeached a second time over his role in fomenting the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, but a majority GOP Senate also declined to convict him and bar him from holding office in the future.
"It will be a great day for the U.S.A. when Nadler, a pathetic lightweight, is out of office and leaves our beautiful, and NOW VERY SAFE, Washington, D.C. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" Trump posted, adding his signature "President DJT" as a flourish at the end.
After announcing he would not seek re-election next year, opening up his seat in the heart of Manhattan for the first time in 34 years, the 78-year-old Nadler described Trump as an existential threat to our democracy.
“I am not terribly optimistic, I wish I could be,” Nadler said. “But this is the most severe threat we’ve had to our system of government since the Civil War, and unfortunately Abraham Lincoln is not the president.”
Conservative lawyer George Conway revealed that President Donald Trump appears to be feeling significant pressure from the renewed attention on the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Conway joined The Bulwark's publisher, Sara Longwell, on the podcast "George Conway Explains It All (to Sarah Longwell)" to discuss Trump's recent moves since the press conference survivors of Epstein's crimes held at the U.S. Capitol this week. Since then, Trump has called the Epstein files a "Democrat hoax that just won't go away." He's also made a series of other seemingly rash decisions that Conway argued meant he was feeling the heat.
"I think also the pressure that he's feeling because of these files, the fear of being exposed," Conway said. "I don't know what exactly is in these files. I think it makes him more manic."
"And it also makes the people around him get the understanding that they can get more out of him and they can please him by saying, 'Let's do this,' 'Sign this,' and he gets kind of hyper," he continued.
Longwell argued that Trump's manic state could help explain his recent threats to send National Guard troops to Chicago, redistricting Texas' election map, and declaring "emergencies that don't exist."
"As far as I'm concerned, part of deploying the National Guard to D.C. when there was absolutely not an emergency happening was to change the conversation away from Epstein," Longwell said.
Conway added that Trump seems to be navigating a "mixed motive" because of his health.
"I do think he's worried about his own mortality," Conway said. "This bit about I want to go to heaven and I think he's feeling the pressure in a lot of different ways that's causing him to become more, I don't know if manic is really the right word, but hyper."
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's hot mic moment during a dinner with President Donald Trump on Thursday was "quite a moment," according to one analyst.
Sara Fischer, media reporter for Axios, joined CNN's Kaitlan Collins on "The Source" to discuss the dinner, which was attended by business leaders like Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. The press was invited to part of the dinner, and some business leaders gave thanks to Trump for his pro-business policies.
One reporter asked Zuckerberg what he thought about free speech issues in the United Kingdom. Zuckerberg seemed caught off guard by the question.
Zuckerberg, who was seated next to the president, leaned in toward Trump. A hot mic caught him saying, "I wasn't ready for our announcement. I wasn't sure what number you wanted to go with."
"I thought that was quite a moment," Collins said.
"Quite a moment," Fischer said. "These guys all thought the free speech and censorship that was such a big deal during the first administration was behind them, so I really do think Mark Zuckerberg was caught off guard there."
"As long as they can focus on AI and innovation, they won't have to worry about all that Republican heat against them for what was so-called censorship," she continued.
The Wall Street Journal's conservative editorial board slammed the "bare-knuckle tactics" President Donald Trump has used to try and force Harvard University to change its campus antisemitism policies.
On Wednesday, a federal judge in Massachusetts ruled that the Trump administration has violated Harvard's First Amendment rights by conditioning university funding on adopting certain antisemitism and diversity policies. The judge restored the more than $2 billion in funding the Trump administration froze, and the order prohibits the administration from placing future restrictions on university funding.
"Mr. Trump could take his legal loss as a hint," the editorial board wrote in a new. "Instead, it might make him see crimson and do worse. But when the next Democratic President uses this precedent to target campus conservatives or climate 'deniers,' the right will be singing Harvard’s current fight song."
The editorial board also warned him that escalating the fight with Harvard could create significant legal repercussions.
"The White House is waging a multi-front war against Harvard that has involved cutting off federal funding, banning foreign student enrollment, and threatening its tax-exempt status and even its patents," the board wrote.
"Mr. Trump’s laudable aim is to clean up the antisemitic rot on campus," the editorial adds. "But its brass-knuckle tactics are doing damage to the rule of law and the First Amendment."
Collins interviewed Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, an infectious disease expert, on her show "The Source" about Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy's hearing before the Senate Finance Committee. Experts have said Kennedy repeated multiple false claims about vaccines during the hearing, which resulted in some Republicans calling for him to be removed from the post.
Kennedy also made a number of false claims that caught Daskalakis's attention. Kennedy lied about people conducting research at the CDC, Daskalakis said, and the discussion he had with former CDC director Susan Monarez before Kennedy fired her.
"The head of the health agency for the United States is actively standing before Congress and making things up," Daskalakis said. "He did not tell the truth."
"So, you're saying he lied to Congress?" Collins asked.
"Yes, he lied to Congress," Daskalaskis said.
"Wow."
Kennedy also claimed during the hearing that he had been briefed by the people from the CDC's immunization group, which Daskalakis said is untrue.
"He was never briefed by anyone in the immunization group," Daskalaskis said.
Collins pushed Daskalakis for more details.
"He says he's being briefed by William Thompson, is one name, and you're saying this person is not an expert on immunizations?" she asked.
"He is not a part of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, and he's not a spokesperson for [the center's] content area," Daskalakis said. "So, if he's getting his information from that individual, I am not sure how that person could have briefed him on material that they have no handle on."
President Donald Trump all but confirmed his well-reported plot to interfere in the New York City mayoral race on Thursday evening, reported Politico's Emily Ngo.
Asked by reporters whether he is working on making a candidate withdraw from the race, Trump said, "No, I don't like to see a communist become mayor. I won't tell you that. And I don't think you can win, unless you have one on one." His remarks appeared to reference Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, a young Muslim with ties to the Democratic Socialists of America, and his main challenger, disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who lost the Democratic primary to Mamdani earlier this year but is still running in the general election under a separate ballot line.
"I would like to see two people drop out and have it be one on one," Trump continued. "And I think that's a race."
This follows reporting that Trump is considering extending an offer of a position in his administration to incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who is running far behind either Mamdani or Cuomo, to make him end his campaign. It also comes after Adams reportedly met with a Trump adviser in Miami, despite his public denials that he is considering any such offer.
Also potentially in contention for a job offer to exit the race is the Republican nominee, Curtis Sliwa.
Trump has repeatedly attacked Mamdani since his victory in the race, calling him a "Communist Lunatic" and even suggesting at one point that he would use his executive power to somehow overturn the election result.
Trump is looking into how the federal government could take control of the museum, which has faced questions over its finances and leadership, The New York Times reported Thursday, citing two anonymous White House officials. The officials described the talks as preliminary and exploratory, and an exact path for a takeover wasn't immediately clear.
“At a time when the federal government is working to cut costs, assuming the full operating expenses for the site makes no sense,” said Beth Hillman, the president and CEO of the museum.
Museum spokesman Marc La Vorgna added, “We are certain that there is nothing in existing law that would give the federal government the unilateral ability to take the site over."
The Times noted the museum has faced scrutiny over its pricy admission prices and hefty leadership salaries. The report also noted billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is the museum's largest donor and is the chair of the board of trustees. He also happens to have a "longstanding feud" with the president.
This would be just the latest attempt at a Trump takeover.
Former Fox News host Geraldo Rivera raged Thursday at the Trump administration's deportation of "family people" alongside criminals who illegally migrated to the United States.
Rivera joined Piers Morgan on his YouTube show "Piers Morgan Uncensored" to discuss Trump's immigration policies. Morgan asked him to respond to an earlier interview with President Donald Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, who argued that the United States should not let anyone who illegally immigrates to stay in the country.
Rivera accused immigration officials of "racially profiling" Latinos in their deportation operations.
"They are racially profiling Latinos where Spanish-speaking people of brown skin are afraid to walk around for fear of a masked ICE agent stopping them and demanding their papers," Rivera said. "It is outrageous."
"Once they make it inside the United States and have been here for decades, god-fearing, law-abiding family people, for God's sakes, give them some compassion," he continued. "Give them some American spirit."
The Trump administration has claimed they are prioritizing deportations for violent criminals, but media reports suggest that is not true. There have been numerous instances where American citizens and people with legal immigration status have been swept up in the deportation operations.
Rivera also took issue with ICE agents wearing masks during the operations.
"If what he is doing is so noble, if what he is doing is so necessary for the fate of our republic, the United States, then why do his ICE agents wear masks?" he asked.
