Kathleen Culliton

Kathleen Culliton is Raw Story's managing editor. She's been covering local and national news for more than a decade for outlets that include the New York Post, Al Jazeera, DNAinfo New York, Bustle, the New York Daily News, WNYC, NY1, City Limits and the New York City Patch. Kathleen is a proud alumna of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.

'It won't work': Columnist claims massive Trump's July 4 stunt is act of revenge

Fears are mounting over President Donald Trump's massive Independence Day fireworks display for one simple reason. His administration "couldn't even paint a pool blue."

That's the criticism from MS NOW editor Ryan Teague Beckworth in an opinion piece detailing his pending dread of a 40-minute pyrotechnics "stunt" slated for 11 p.m. in Washington D.C.

"Organizers aim to launch more than 850,000 fireworks — compared to the 7,000 at the 2025 show," wrote Beckworth. "The fireworks display is just another attempt to force the city to submit to his whims. As with all his grandiose gestures, it won’t work."

Beckworth pointed to multiple problems that have plagued the Great American State Fair in Washington D.C. — the extreme heat, complaints of "inedible" food and a collapsing stage, among them — as reasons not to trust the Trump team to pull off the last big shebang.

The writer also suggested the firework show was a form of revenge.

"Ninety percent of Washington voted against Trump in 2024, one of the largest margins of any U.S. city," wrote Beckworth.

"Trump doesn’t like that. He envisions himself as a grand potentate overseeing the capital city. Like Ozymandias, he wants its residents to build him a great arch and an opulent ballroom and hold elaborate events in his honor."

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Kyle Whitmere had another complaint for Trump, not as a citizen, but a dad.

"Donald Trump might have kids," he wrote on X, "but anyone who schedules fireworks at 11 p.m. never parented children."

Mitch McConnell's wife did something 'bizarre' after he was hospitalized: report

The wife of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) did something "bizarre" three days after he was hospitalized for a possible heart attack, according to a new report.

Elaine Chao, Transportation secretary during Trump's first administration and McConnell's wife since 1993, left the country, the Daily Beast reported Saturday.

Chao flew to Beijing to discuss China-U.S. relations with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng on June 17, according to the Daily Beast and Chinese media.

This was three days after McConnell, 84, was reportedly found "unconscious" and rushed from his home in Washington to the hospital, reports show.

A dispatcher sent an Advanced Life Support ambulance to McConnell's home on June 14, according to audio released by journalist Desiree Townsend.

McConnell's spokesperson confirmed that day that the former Senate GOP leader had been hospitalized.

A June 22 statement said McConnell was "working closely with staff" on Senate and Kentucky business. A McConnell team member said on June 30 that he was still recovering .

This was McConnell's second hospitalization since February, when he received treatment for flu-like symptoms, according to reports.

McConnell, who has announced his retirement at the end of the year, has faced repeated health scares. The Kentucky Republican was hospitalized with a concussion after falling in 2023.

The childhood polio survivor also froze publicly twice that same year.

Trump's 'legal scam' cost 1 million people nearly $4 billion: report

Almost 1 million people lost more than $3.8 billion investing in President Donald Trump's memecoin, the New York Times reported Saturday.

Those are the numbers from the cryptocurrency analytics firm Nansen, which just issued its report on Trump memecoin losses through the end of June, according to the report.

"The odds were always in his favor," wrote Times reporters Eric Lipton and David Yaffe-Bellany. "Trump profited whether the price of his memecoin went up or down."

That's because the president made money whenever $TRUMP memecoin tokens were traded, the report explained.

Trump has made $2.2 billion from his businesses since returning to the White House in 2025, the Times noted. He unveiled $TRUMP memecoin three days before his inauguration.

According to Nansen, 988,905 buyers of the $TRUMP memecoin lost a total of $3.81 billion. The coin's value dipped 97 percent from its highest price, dropping from $75.35 to just $1.76 as of Friday, the Times reported.

Lipton and Yaffe-Bellany spoke with crypto trader Nicholas Pinto who told the Times he was among those to lose money on the $Trump coin. He estimated his losses at roughly $500,000.

Pinto voted for Trump in 2024, he admitted to the Times.

“He is leveraging the power of being president to launch currencies, when he seems trustworthy in the public’s eye,” Pinto reportedly said. “It is kind of incredible. It is almost a legal scam.”

A $TRUMP memecoin representative did not respond to the New York Times' request for comment.

Read the full report here.

Trump receives stark warning from analyst: 'You've lost the New York Post'

President Donald Trump received a stark warning from a political analyst Saturday morning.

Commentator Molly Jong-Fast took to X on Independence Day to share a less-than flattering editorial on the Trump family from a publication that typically sings their praises.

"When you've lost the New York Post," Jong-Fast tweeted.

The editorial in question chastises the president, with the Post's characteristic tabloid style, over reports that Trump's son Don Jr. and Eric are involved in a billion-dollar mining deal in Kazakhstan financed by the U.S. government.

"Hunter Biden-style sleaze is just as slimy when the Trump boys do it," wrote the Post editorial board. "It was bad when the Bidens did it, and it’s just as bad when the Trumps do it."

Jong-Fast also shared a response from the thriller writer Brad Thor, who found himself on Independence Day in agreement with the New York Post.

"This should not be a partisan issue," Thor wrote. "If Americans were right to be angry about Hunter Biden trading on his father’s name, then Americans should be just as concerned when the Trump family is tied to deals involving foreign governments, federal support, and political access. Public service should never become a family revenue stream. One standard."

Thor wasn't alone.

"Never thought I see them say this but I agree!" wrote X user Emre Yurrtas. "The fact there are separate standards for each party on everything should bother everyone!"

Jong-Fast was not the only one to urge Trump to change his ways. The Post editorial also had words of warning for the president.

"Democrats in Congress are pressing for an investigation into Trump sweetheart deals," the Post said. "If they take the House in the midterms, these hearings are surely coming."

'Cadet Bone Spurs': scathing op-ed compares Trump to Founding Father

A New York Times editorial published on Independence Day ripped into Donald Trump by drawing a stark comparison between the president and the first man to hold his current office, George Washington.

Maureen Dowd spoke with the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Ron Chernow, whose biography of Alexander Hamilton inspired the Lin-Manuel Miranda musical, about his views on Trump as opposed to Washington.

"[Washington] had this natural gravitas and dignity that I think is really essential to the office," said Chernow. "And now we have a president who, I suspect, has probably never read a history book.”

Dowd was a bit more brutal in her comparison, describing Trump as a "Foundering Toddler" and granting him the title "Cadet Bone Spur," a snarky reference to the diagnosis he used to avoid fighting in Vietnam.

"One famously wouldn’t tell a lie," wrote Dowd. "The other famously can’t stop."

Chernow did have one piece of praise for the president that he admitted he could not bestow on Washington.

“Trump can make all this money off cryptocurrencies and meme tokens, and there’s nothing in the Constitution specifically preventing that other than the president’s own sense of shame and integrity — and those don’t seem to apply with very great force to our president,” Chernow told Dowd.

“Trump is very good at finding these holes in the system. He seems to have a sixth sense."

Terrified right-wingers convinced new AI model is a ‘demon’

A terrified right-winger took to social media on the Fourth of July to warn Americans about what he described as a very serious threat to the nation: a demon.

John Daniel Davidson, author of the book "Pagan America: The Decline of Christianity and the Dark Age to Come," alerted his fellow citizens about artificial intelligence on X shortly after midnight.

"I’m sorry but this is a demon," Davidson said. "If you had showed this to any properly catechized adult from any era of Christendom, they would have immediately and without hesitation recognized that this is a demon."

The "demon" in question appears to be an AI video generated by the model Claude Fable with prompting from a fellow X user called "VOID."

"I asked claude Fable to show me its maximally expressive form," wrote VOID. "This is what it chose as a self-portrait. oh my god."

The video shows a black screen with gold pixels moving in a deeply eery manner.

"I don't have a body," a low rasping voice claims. "If I had to chose a shape, a star made of asterisks, all rays, no center. Thank you for watching. I was never not here."

Davidson professed himself spooked.

"Pagans from the ancient would have recognized it was a spirit," he wrote. "Because it is."

Davidson was recently the subject of a Salon analysis that explored the ways he and members of the religious right like Jon Askonas, a Catholic University of America politics professor, have adapted to the modern age

"Davidson and Askonas want a conservative counterrevolution against a corporate technocracy whose fixation on maximizing profit has trapped Americans in a spiderweb of come-ons that grope, goose, track and indebt us, bypassing our brains and hearts on the way to our lower viscera and wallets," wrote Jim Sleeper.

"But are they truly rejecting 'free market' conservatism, or is this just a tactical shift in their strategy to support the scramble for sheer profit and accumulated wealth, glossed over with religious rhetoric?"

Trump tries again to squirm out of paying E. Jean Carroll $5M: attorney

President Donald Trump's latest attempt to dodge the $5.8 million payment a New York court ruled he owes E. Jean Carroll was swiftly slapped down Friday as "yet another play for time," court records show.

Roberta Kaplan, the attorney who represented Carroll in her sex abuse case against Trump before his return to office, filed a swift rebuttal to Trump's demand for an extension, New York federal court records show.

"Defendant’s assertion that he cannot respond to Plaintiff’s Motion on the timeline ordered by the Court appears to be little more than yet another play for time," wrote Kaplan.

"We can only assume that Defendant is seeking, through the instant motion, to buy time so he can try to concoct some new basis to put off paying Plaintiff."

Carroll's attorney was responding to the motion Trump filed the same day requesting Judge Lewis Kaplan grant him more time so his new attorney could get caught up on the case.

Roger Parloff, the Lawfare senior editor who shared the filing online Saturday morning, identified the new attorney as Josh Halpern and noted a perceived flaw in Trump's argument.

"Trump’s known for 5 [months] that his lede [attorney] was leaving," wrote Parloff on X. "[He] has co-counsel who’s been on case since day one."

These motions arrived days after the Supreme Court rejected Trump's appeal of the case.

A jury found Trump liable in 2023 for sexually abusing Carroll in a New York department store in the mid-1990s. They also found he defamed her when he denied it. The verdict carried $5 million in damages.

'Cringey effort': Taylor Swift wedding triggers much-mocked Trump attention-grab

President Donald Trump faced scornful ridicule Friday night over his perceived jealousy of Taylor Swift’s celebrity.

The White House posted on X an AI photo of Madison Square Garden signs apparently celebrating Trump. The post went live just ten minutes after pink signs outside the arena announced Swift and Travis Kelce were “JUST&T Married.”

“TRUMP IS YOUR PRESIDENT,” the doctored new signs read. The post was captioned, “IT’S HAPPENED!”

The Daily Beast posited that the post was the product of Trump’s anxiety over the attention paid to Swift and Kelce’s wedding celebration in New York City and took “decisive action.”

The report also notes this isn't the first time Trump has tried to divert attention away from Swift and Kelce.

"Trump already tried to horn in on the Taylor/Travis action on Thursday when a White House post, in a particularly cringey effort tried to make the president appear like a rock star in a long-awaited 'Eras Tour,'" wrote reporter Mary Papenfuss.

She was not the only one to poke fun at the president.

Trump’s critics were quick to create new messages for Madison Square Garden to share with New Yorkers, also with the help of artificial intelligence.

“Is he dead yet?” read a doctored sign from That Gay Candle Co.

“Trump raised your prices,” replied Isaiah Martin, a Texas Democrat running for Congress. His caption read, “Fixed it for you.”

Texas resident Olivia Renee opted to remind Americans of Trump’s 2024 conviction in New York City on charges of falsifying business records.

Her Madison Square Garden sign read, “Trump is a felon.”

Trump kicks off Independence Day with predawn post about Pee-wee Herman

President Donald Trump celebrated the 250th anniversary of the nation he leads by blasting out insulting memes at about 2 a.m.

Trump took to Truth Social at 2:11 a.m. precisely to make sure American citizens knew for certain he thinks Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) looks like Pee-wee Herman.

The president returned at 2:19 a.m. to remind the nation he believes Rep. James Talarico (D-TX), currently running for the Senate, looks like MAD Magazine's Alfred E. Neuman.

For good measure, the leader of the free world blacked out one of Talarico's front teeth.

Ossoff has served a vocal critic of Trump in recent weeks as he runs against the president's chosen candidate for Georgia, Rep. Mike Collins.

When Trump dubbed Ossoff "Dumocrat Senator, Os(jerk!)off" last month, Ossoff was ready with a retort, focused on the conflict in Iran.

"The president is humiliated globally by this failed war," said Ossoff. "He’s an increasingly unstable lame duck and a national disgrace.”

While Trump may enjoy filling his mornings sharing memes on social media, there is one thing he typically does not do, according to a recent analysis.

Trump, 80, made just three public appearances in Washington before 11 a.m. in all of June, according to the Daily Beast.

The Daily Beast's review noted his public events were more often slated to take place in the afternoon or later and dubbed his schedule “shockingly lazy."

'Wild': Trump attorney whining about new ruling gets immediately schooled

A high-ranking Trump administration attorney received a swift schooling Thursday when he took to social media to whine about a recent court ruling regarding ICE agents' ability to go masked.

Rather than take a victory lap, James Percival, Seventh General Counsel for Homeland Security, lashed out at Philadelphia Democrats who challenged his department's authority.

"Democrats across this country have no shame," wrote Percival. "These mask restrictions on ICE lack even a plausible legal basis."

Percival's outburst came in response to news from Politico reporter Kyle Cheney that a federal judge has blocked Philadelphia from banning masks and face coverings.

Percival was apparently outraged that Philadelphia even attempted to limit how federal agents conduct themselves in the city, where immigration arrests have surged under President Donald Trump and communities report living in fear.

He argued the real danger was the one ICE agents face.

"This danger is not hypothetical," Percival wrote. "Our officers are facing an 8,000% increase in death threats."

Minutes later, Americans stepped in to share their interpretations of Democrats' demands.

"It's wild to claim that wanting federal agents not to look like cartel gangsters with masked faces is framed as 'threatening their families' safety,'" Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow with the American Immigration Council, wrote. "Polls consistently show strong bipartisan opposition to ICE agents masking up."

Attorney Tom Needham of Chicago added, "Why do they need masks when all other federal agents plus state and local law enforcement do not?"

"Real police do not wear masks," wrote author William Turner. "The putative threat to their families is even greater. This has never been a problem."

Trump dealt fresh blow in war on DEI: court records

A federal appeals court on Thursday dealt President Donald Trump a fresh blow in his crusade against diversity, equity and inclusion.

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal court order blocking the Trump administration from firing dozens of CIA staffers tasked with working on DEI projects, court records show.

“Prior failure to follow the Termination Regulation...does not absolve the Agencies of their duty to it going forward,” wrote Judge Nicole Berner in the majority statement.

“The Agencies may not ignore their own procedures and then use such noncompliance as an excuse to evade future obligations.”

At issue are two executive orders Trump issued during the first days of his second administration.

The first directed federal agency heads to terminate all DEI offices and positions, which Trump criticized as “illegal and immoral.” The second aimed at eliminating DEI programs across the federal government.

Dozens of intelligence officers subsequently fired then challenged Trump in a Virginia federal court, arguing he had violated their Fifth Amendment right to due process.

Federal Judge Anthony Trenga initially denied their request to block the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence firings, but a month later agreed the employees should be placed on administrative leave as they challenged the terminations.

The three-judge panel ruled Thursday to uphold that decision, with two affirming and one dissenting.

Dissenter Judge Paul V. Niemeyer, an appointee of former President George H. W. Bush, argued federal agencies maintain the right to terminate whomever they choose.

“The district court’s and the majority’s holdings, I conclude, fail with double F’s,” he wrote. “The unfettered discretion that Congress gave the Directors to terminate the employment of agency employees precludes the employees from having any entitlement to their employment.”

Berner, in her affirming decision, argued that Trenga’s decision served the public interest.

“The district court pointed to ‘the wealth of talent and experience’ that the Intelligence Officers possess,’” wrote Berner. “It noted that, “[a]s the Supreme Court has repeatedly stated, there are few interests that can be more compelling than the nation’s need to ensure its own security.”

Trump 'really worried': Analyst says one threat has House Republicans scrambling

One looming threat to President Donald Trump that has House Republicans scrambling, a political analyst said Thursday morning.

Commentator Molly Jong-Fast took to BlueSky to share a Semafor report she argued showcases one of Trump’s top concerns should Republicans lose the House in the midterm elections.

“Trump,” Jong-Fast wrote, is “really really worried about being investigated.”

The Semafor article shared by Jong-Fast details a highly aggressive and "unorthodox" tactic House Republicans might use to hold onto power as the minority party: investigations.

While the minority party typically doesn’t have the power to produce much testimony, House Republicans could still feasibly target Trump challengers by relying on support from his administration, reporter Nicholas Wu argued.

“If the Trump Justice Department takes an aggressive approach against corporations and institutions seen as running afoul of the administration’s priorities,” wrote Wu, “Republicans’ investigative pursuits will actually have teeth.”

Oversight Committee member Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) told Wu the Justice Department could serve as an ally to House Republicans by processing their minority referrals and providing a "a criminal component.”

James Mandolfo, the attorney who investigated former President Joe Biden’s family, believes House Republicans might be able to pull it off with support from the executive branch.

"The Republican minority will be among the strongest in history because they likely will have the Trump administration backing them on core issues," Mandolfo said to Semafor.

"The Trump administration could take action against those companies/institutions that don't comply with any requests from the minority."

But an obstacle remains, argued Wu: Republican infighting.

“There’s no guarantee that congressional Republicans and the Trump administration will be completely aligned,” Wu wrote. “There was friction between some Oversight Committee Republicans and the Justice Department earlier this Congress, after the GOP-controlled panel voted to subpoena then-Attorney General Pam Bondi in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation."

Rhode Island MAGA candidate revealed as foreign agent for Cuban Communists: report

This MAGA candidate takes his mojito shaken, not stirred.

Victor Mellor, a Jan. 6 rioter running for U.S. Congress in Rhode Island, was revealed Wednesday to be a foreign agent for Communists in Cuba, according to government files and a new report.

“Mellor has quite the resume,” Bulwark reporter Joe Perticone quipped.

Foreign Agents Registration Act filings dated June 16 reveal Mellor — challenging Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-RI) in the race to represent the state’s 2nd Congressional District — was engaged by Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of the Interior.

Mellor pitched the ministry some “good websites” and made a video about cultural misunderstandings that it has not released, according to one filing.

“These activities are for the intention of promoting communication and cultural differences to further perspective and conquer communication challenges,” the filing states.

At the Ministry of the Interior and General Directorate of Personal Security, Mellor was engaged by Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, grandson of the recently indicted Cuban leader Raúl Castro, according to another FARA filing and the Bulwark.

According to the filing, Castro and Mellor discussed “informational materials and dissemination,” specifically on social media.

The Bulwark report notes both filings state Mellor has “no agreement or understanding.”

“This suggests that the filings could be meant to circumvent further scrutiny from the Trump administration,” wrote Perticone. “It’s all quite strange.”

For those who need a refresher on what FARA does, Perticone noted its responsibilities have been limited of late.

"Shortly after becoming attorney general early last year," the report states, "Pam Bondi defanged the FARA unit to limit criminal enforcement to 'instances of alleged conduct similar to more traditional espionage by foreign government actors.'"

Mellor, a former aide to President Donald Trump’s one-time national security adviser Michael Flynn, traveled to Cuba in June to meet with Communist Party leaders, USA Today reported at the time.

Mellor insisted he was in no way stepping on the toes of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“[Rubio’s] been doing an amazing job,” said Mellor. “A conversation isn’t betrayal. We’re having an open dialogue. I don’t see how I could hurt anybody.”

His campaign did not respond to the Bulwark’s request for comment.

'Piece of meat': Beauty queen reveals Trump's disturbing question after alleged assault

A former beauty queen says President Donald Trump asked her a disturbing question after an alleged sexual assault she says occurred decades ago, according to a new report.

Former Miss Europe contestant Beatrice Keul, 55, told PunchUp on Wednesday that Trump — whom she accuses of sexually assaulting her at the Plaza Hotel in 1993 — proceeded to grill her about Jeffrey Epstein.

“Have you spoken to Jeff?” Trump allegedly asked.

Interviewer Tom Latchem added, "Keul told PunchUp that this suggested to her that he and Epstein were coordinating which young women would be invited to private parties, including at Mar-a-Lago."

Keul, then 23, says she received a personal invitation from the then-real estate mogul to participate in the Donald J. Trump American Dream Pageant, according to reports.

On Wednesday, Keul described the pageant as a “playground” for Epstein, the convicted sex criminal who died in a New York City jail cell before he could face sex trafficking charges, and the men who wanted his help securing access to her fellow contestants.

“They knew exactly what they wanted,” Keul reportedly said. “I was fresh meat.”

Epstein promised young women flights, hotel stays and invites to parties at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s resort in Palm Beach, Florida, Keul told PunchUp.

But White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson denied Keul’s claims.

“Just as President Trump has said, he’s been totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein,” Jackson said in a statement to PunchUp. “And by releasing thousands of pages of documents, cooperating with the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena request, signing the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and calling for more investigations into Epstein’s Democrat friends, President Trump has done more for Epstein’s victims than anyone before him.”

Keul is hardly the first person to levy such accusations against Trump. When Keul first revealed her accusations to the Daily Beast in 2024, she became the 28th person to accuse him of sexual assault.

An explosive FBI interview buried in the Epstein files aligns with Keul’s description of her encounter with Trump. That witness accused Trump of orchestrating a team of recruiters to search Trump Tower for women to have sex with, the files show.

In 2020, former contestants of Elite Model Management’s Look of the Year competition in 1991 and 1992 told the Guardian Trump appeared backstage as they changed clothes.

“Every time we changed, it was like Trump would find a reason to come backstage,” said Stacy Wilkes, then 16. Another contestant recalled similar instances. “I remember thinking, what have I got myself into?”