Bennito L. Kelty

Trump DHS chief torched after telling New Yorkers to 'wise up'

The head of the Department of Homeland Security is getting an earful after he told New Yorkers to "wise up."

During a press conference, Markwayne Mullin went after New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his constituents.

"He and I don't get along," Mullin said about Mamdani. "It's shameful, and hopefully people in New York will wise up and get a true leader in there in a few years."

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, fired back, writing, "Nothing like an Oklahoman with no ties to New York City trying to tell the city what to think about its highly popular mayor."

"New Yorkers definitely want a plumber from Oklahoma telling them what to do," journalist John Harwood wrote.

"The leader of American Gestapo is both dumb as a rock and purely evil," Norman Ornstein, a political scientist and contributing editor for The Atlantic, posted.

"It really is shameful that ol' Markwayne is so hateable that even he can't get along with someone as likeable as Mamdani," podcaster Roy Bellamy wrote. "Hopefully America will wise up and get true leaders in here in November and beyond."

"Does Donald Trump know that Markwayne is insulting his friend Mamdani?" asked author and editor Grant Stern, referring to reports that the two elected leaders are friendly.

"Any attacks on Mamdani from the admin appointees only make Trump's genuine affection for him even funnier," Max Steele, the senior director for communications for Everytown for Gun Safety, agreed.

GOP election expert slams top MAGA election demand: 'Asinine in the extreme'

A Republican election expert slammed one of the top MAGA demands as impossible and "asinine in the extreme."

In a recent interview, Stephen Richer, the former Maricopa County recorder and a fellow at the Cato Institute, tore apart the idea of hand counting ballots.

Legal reporter Adam Klasfeld asked Richer if the "loudly demanded" idea from election denialists would "do anything to make elections operate faster or more accurately?"

"This is asinine in the extreme," Richer said. "If you think California is tabulating ballots slowly now, as I do, and we can get into how California can speed that up, but they wouldn't be done for six months if we were having them hand count all of those ovals."

Richer brought up that supporters of hand tabulation argue, "France can do it," but countered, "France has one election every so often, and they have one item on the ballot."

He explained that California, by contrast, "will probably have about eighty-plus contests" on the average ballot in November.

"You multiply that over a few million, not just a few million, but close to 20 million voters," Richer explained. "It would be far less accurate. It would be far less fast and be far more expensive."

U.S. election officials "do hand count ballots" for audits, and "that's an important feature of an election system." He also supported paper ballots, saying they're "a good thing because it creates an immutable, unhackable, auditable paper trail."

GOP candidate doubles down on promise to hire anti-Semitic MAGA podcaster

A GOP candidate for governor in Colorado doubled down on his shocking promise to hire a MAGA podcaster with anti-Semitic views.

Republican Scott Bottoms claimed on the debate stage last week that he would hire MAGA podcaster Joe Oltmann, who called for the executions of the "Synagogue of Satan Jews" running Colorado. Bottoms said it wouldn't be a problem to have Oltmann work alongside him if he's elected as governor, "assuming it's not around Jewish people."

The wild statement was mocked by comedian John Oliver on his weekly show. Bottoms reacted to Oliver's segment on X by thanking him "for the exposure" and accusing the debate moderator of "Gotcha journalism."

Bottoms defended his statement by claiming that "Joe Oltmann is Jewish," and still hasn't walked back his promise to bring him onto his administration.

"Nice try!" Bottoms wrote. "It's time to Reclaim Colorado in 2026!"

DOJ agency claims it has no records of Trump's shady IRS settlement

A Department of Justice division claimed it had no records related to President Donald Trump's IRS settlement, a watchdog reported.

According to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), the DOJ's Civil Division came up empty-handed when responding to a request for records related to the settlement that led to Trump's $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund.

The $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund came out of a settlement in the case Trump v. IRS, a $10 billion lawsuit over the leaking of the Trump family and organization's tax returns. CREW filed the request to see DOJ documents related to the settlement that created the fund, but "DOJ's Civil Division claims to have no record of so much as being notified about Trump's case," the watchdog reported.

CREW was expecting some paper trail, given the amount of money involved and the fact that it was the first time a sitting president had sued and settled a case with their own administration.

"Given the extraordinary way this case unfolded, a settlement of this magnitude leaving no trace in the files of the divisions typically responsible for it is yet another striking confirmation of the irregular, collusive process that produced an enormously corrupt result," CREW wrote.

CREW is challenging the lawsuit in court, it noted.

MAGA lawmaker dragged online after bizarre claim about Trump being a 'special baby'

A MAGA congressman faced online roasting after he went on a bizarre rant about President Donald Trump being a "very special baby."

Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) told a reporter, "Donald Trump is the best thing to happen to this country in a hundred years," but his flattery didn't stop there.

"He was born a very special baby," Nehls said. "I bet the doctors said, 'I can tell this is a very special baby.'"

Online commentators were taken aback and jumped on the chance to mock the GOP congressman.

"Even in Pyongyang they must be looking at this and wondering WTF," Tom Nichols, a staff writer for The Atlantic, wrote, referring to the capital of North Korea.

"I spit my coffee out!" national columnist Sophia Nelson admitted. "Lmao. It's. A. Cult."

Ex-GOP congressman Joe Walsh agreed, writing, "My. Former. Political. Party. Is. A. Cult."

"Congress is literally Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) posted, referring to the 2006 Will Ferrell comedy.

"He then added: We're not a cult," quipped writer and podcaster Hemant Mehta. "Don't say we're a cult."

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) simply posted "Ew."

"They are such a naturally submissive group, these MAGA politicians," podcaster John Iadarola joked.

"I can't believe these guys have wives that see this," author Jack Jokinen wrote.

Ex-prosecutor outraged as Trump admin's 'legal fiction' turns into new bomb strikes

A former prosecutor this week raised a red flag about Trump's new strikes against Iran and the "legal fiction" used to authorize them.

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper pointed out on Wednesday that the Trump administration can't carry on a military campaign without approval from Congress because of limitations set by the War Powers Resolution.

"The Trump administration has claimed the 60-day window doesn't apply because this operation ended when the ceasefire began," Cooper said, talking to former prosecutor Margaret Donovan, who is also a U.S. Army combat veteran who served in Iraq. "Is that accurate?"

"That would not make any sense to me," Donovan said. "It's a legal fiction to say that the operation or that hostilities have ended because there was a ceasefire."

Donovan pointed out, "There was a blockade throughout the entire ceasefire, and we have seen the United States use force against ships and third-party countries throughout that blockade."

The United States blockade is "an act of war," Donovan explained. "It's only legal to employ one when you are actually at war." To say the U.S. isn't at war would mean it's not carrying out a blockade, she added.

A blockade "authorizes the United States to use lethal force against both enemy ships and ships of third-party countries, so it's a very serious act to set up."

Noem's husband chased 'one last hoo-ha' with mistress as bombshell story broke: report

The husband of former Trump cabinet secretary Kristi Noem asked his dominatrix for "one last hoo-ha" as stories about his scandal broke, the model said.

The Daily Mail reported earlier this year that Bryon Noem carried on a years-long relationship with dominatrix Shy Sotomayor, who performs under the name Raelynn Riley. In a recent interview with former GOP strategist Rick Wilson, Sotomayor spilled more tea about her relationship with Bryon and how he reacted after their secret relationship was exposed.

The bombshell report published photos and messages detailing how Bryon enjoyed "bimbofication" at the hands of highly paid sex workers while his wife was the head of the Department of Homeland Security and the South Dakota governor before that. Bryon didn't deny messaging models and sending photos when The Mail reached out to him while his wife's spokesperson said she was "blindsided."

Sotomayor said that after she tried cutting off contact with Bryon, she "never heard from him," until the scandalous story broke.

"A day later, the news pops up. So he was still talking to me as people were like reporting on him and submitting like screenshots," Sotomayor told Wilson. "I think he was trying to get one last hoo-ha, you know, out of it."

She estimated that her contact with Bryon dropped off around "early May, April."

The Daily Mail exposé came out in late March. Noem was ousted as DHS secretary in March.

Another Trump golf club slapped with 'critical' health violation: report

Yet another one of Trump's golf clubs has been hit with health code violations, according to reporting by NOTUS.

The culprit this time is the Trump National Golf Club Hudson Valley in Hopewell Junction, New York. The club was flagged for a "critical violation" at its restaurant by a Dutchess County health inspector in April, according to NOTUS, which looked at state records.

Earlier this year, NOTUS reported similar "critical" violations found at the Trump National Golf Club Westchester. The reporting came after NOTUS obtained records from last November that revealed Westchester County health inspectors found insects, rodents and dirty surfaces.

The latest critical violation at a Trump golf course comes from "food from [an] unapproved source, spoiled, adulterated on premises," NOTUS reported. Health inspectors also called out a "non-critical" violation because of "improperly stored" food dispensing utensils that were "in use," according to NOTUS.

NOTUS noted that Trump's Hudson Valley golf course touted its "delicious cuisine" on its website, adding that it was "prepared by the Club's culinary staff led by a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America."

The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago also violated city health codes, according to NOTUS. Last December, Chicago health inspectors reported flies, faulty dishwashers and wastewater flooding around three prep sinks in the main kitchen.

In May 2025, health inspectors found 18 health code violations at Trump's golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey. According to NOTUS, the manager of that New Jersey club said the citations were "politically motivated."

'Highly emotional man': CNBC's Jim Cramer rips Trump as Iran war drives up prices

CNBC's Jim Cramer had strong words for President Donald Trump while talking about the economic pressures brought on by the Iran war.

"Is the president stepping it up in order to end the war? Or is he just stepping it out because he's had it?" Cramer asked during an appearance on "Squawk on the Street," where he spoke about inflation from the conflict. "That's the question, because he is a highly emotional man that's running a military."

Trump is "the opposite" of World War II General George Marshall, Cramer added. The comments came as Cramer broke down how the Iran War is driving up prices.

"We've got this problem. It's energy," Cramer said. "Then it's all the surcharges to get our food into the store...who pays that surcharge? We do. And we pay it when we go to the supermarket."

Cramer and CNBC anchor Carl Quintanilla were also reacting to a 6.5 percent annualized increase in the Producer Price Index, a marker of worsening inflation. The European Central Bank also hiked interest rates.

"ECB today becomes the first G7 central bank to hike rates in response to the energy shock," Quintanilla said, adding that the 6.5 percent PPI increase "is not a great print."

Elon Musk lampooned with giant inflatable effigy in the middle of Times Square: reports

Billionaire tech giant Elon Musk was mocked with a giant, unflattering inflatable doll in the middle of New York City's Times Square, according to multiple reports.

The 40-foot effigy had "SPACEX's GROK MAKES AI CHILD PORN" written across Musk's shirtless belly, and under his sagging cleavage, Reuters photos show. His back had the same protest scrawled across the inflatable effigy's back, along with the name "Elon" on the back of its baseball cap.

The messages referred to the AI chatbot, Grok, available through X. It also came as a highly anticipated IPO on SpaceX, which is expected to make Musk the first trillionaire, Wired noted.

The demonstration was organized by Safe AI Now, a group of faith leaders, family advocates, child development experts, online safety organizations and others, according to Wired. The grinning and creepy doll was set up right in front of Nasdaq and JP Morgan's offices, which are both connected to the SpaceX IPO.

"This IPO is a liability shift," an anonymous Safe AI Now spokesperson told Wired. "Elon is responsible for all of this. It's all the decisions that he's made. All of those litigation expenses, regulatory fines, investigations, all of that is basically being shifted to the shareholders."

Platner's accuser ran with the playbook that saved Kavanaugh: former GOP operative

One of the three accusers against Graham Platner had a role in helping Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh survive his confirmation fight, according to a former GOP operative.

In the latest episode of his podcast, "Against All Enemies," former GOP operative Rick Wilson detailed the history of Lyndsey Fifield, the ex-girlfriend featured in the New York Times article about Platner's past relationships.

"She's a CPAC person. She's a conservative activist person," Wilson explained. "She ran a group, of course, called Ladies for Kavanaugh, which might have been a giveaway if you thought it through."

Fifield's "most recent gig" is working at the Independent Women's Forum, which Wilson described as "a right-wing group." He added that "this attack coming from this particular person makes a lot of sense."

Wilson played a clip of who he identified as the chair of the IWF publicly boasting how her group wrote a memo "about supporting Kavanaugh without alienating the Me Too movement." Kavanaugh faced a tough confirmation hearing after allegations of sexual assault against him surfaced.

"We wrote a memo. It was used by a lot of members of the Senate and the House and Fox News and elsewhere," the speaker said in the clip. "But most important is Susan Collins told me that without that memo, she could not have seen how to support him, and if you look at her speech that she gave on the Senate floor, it is entirely the playing out and architecture of how we structured the argument."

Platner is running to beat Sen. Collins (R-ME) and win a seat that will be critical to helping Democrats take back control of the Senate.

Wilson ties the connections together, saying Fifield is "the woman who ran Ladies for Kavanaugh, who works for Independent Women's Forum that provided Susan Collins with all of her talking points about Brett Kavanaugh and how she could support Brett."

He added that the attack against Platner resembles the kind of political hit he would have carried out.

"That's precisely the kind of thing I was extremely good at doing when I was a Republican," Wilson said. "That is precisely the kind of thing I would engineer and stage and find somebody who would go out and be the face of it."

MAGA Hit Jobs and How To Beat Them by Rick Wilson

Breaking down last night's results

Read on Substack

Trump's top Manhattan prosecutor unnerves legal experts with his cable TV habit

The top Manhattan prosecutor in Trump's Department of Justice is alarming legal experts with his behavior.

During a recent interview, Adam Klasfeld raised red flags over Jay Clayton, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, because of his constant appearances on CNBC. Clayton "sowed doubt" over the California elections, but that wasn't all the stunned Klasfeld, who's been a court reporter for the past two decades.

"I have never seen a U.S. attorney engage in political commentary on cable, period," Klasfeld said. "And he is now a regular fixture, Jay Clayton, on Squawk Box on CNBC, where he spouts off pro-Trump talking points regularly."

In addition to bringing up unfounded fraud concerns around the California elections, Clayton has also talked about how Trump was wronged in criminal prosecutions against him, defended the $1.776 billion slush fund, and engaged in "soft election denialism," Klasfeld said.

Michael Popok, a former prosecutor and the host of Legal AF, added to Klasfeld's observations. Popok noted that Clayton "is a very close friend and always has been with Howard Lutnick," Trump's commerce secretary, who's been questioned about his ties to Epstein.

Clayton is also a "golfing buddy" with Lutnick and Trump, according to Popok, adding that his purpose is to make the Southern District of New York look good under Trump.

"When you see him on television, he looks like he's from central casting," Popok said about Clayton. "His sole purpose is to give a veneer of credibility, and to restore some credibility to that office while continuing to be a political hatchet man."

THE POPOK POP-UP: BREAKING NEWS AND ADAM KLASFELD, TOO! by Legal AF

A recording from Legal AF's live video

Read on Substack

MAGA senator mocked over bizarre request to see lewd texts

A MAGA senator is the target of ridicule after he made an odd demand to see an embattled candidate's lewd texts.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) went on Fox News to talk about Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner (D). Platner was in hot water ahead of the primaries after reporting by the Wall Street Journal and New York Times revealed he had been sending lewd messages to women while he was married.

"I wanna see those text messages," Kennedy demanded. "The sexting."

The odd request prompted cringes as people mocked him.

"Old perv," wrote Ron Filipkowski, the editor-in-chief of Meidas Touch. "I bet he does," agreed Democratic strategist Leslie Marshall.

"I bet you do," writer and media consultant Rex Bossert wrote. "But not the Epstein files?"

Others similarly called Kennedy out for his apparent hypocrisy.

"But not the Epstein files," noted writer and podcaster Hemant Mehta.

"Let's see those Trump Epstein files," wrote journalist Bill Huffman. "It's embarrassing how stupid they are. I hate them and they should all lose their jobs asap."

Trump White House hunting for insider who leaked details about Epstein freakout: report

The Trump administration is launching a "massive leak hunt" to find out who spilled details on a panicked conversation inside the White House.

A new book by journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan has the Trump White House scrambling to find out who leaked details about the Trump administration's "freakout" over the release of the Epstein files, according to reporting by CNN. The New York Times published an excerpt of the book, "Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump," on Wednesday.

The book's excerpt describes a meeting that Trump didn't attend or know about in the Situation Room. Included in the meeting were his senior aides, Vice President JD Vance and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, last year to plan how to contain the fallout.

Others present included then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and FBI Director Kash Patel, according to reporting by The Daily Beast. According to an excerpt of Haberman and Swan's book, Vance "appeared panicked" about how the Epstein files would divide the president's base.

CNN cited a person who "detected" the search for the leaker to confirm that the White House is now hunting them down.