Robert Davis

Attorney General Todd Blanche's interview on "Meet the Press" on Sunday didn't go as well as he may have intended, according to one analyst.

Kristen Welker of NBC News asked Blanche whether he views the Department of Justice as a separate entity from the executive branch and whether he would refuse an illegal order from President Donald Trump. Will Saletan of The Bulwark noted in a new video on Sunday that Blanche's answers to the seemingly straightforward questions were alarming.

For instance, when asked about the DOJ's independence, Blanche replied that "No, I'm not going to pledge thatI'm not going to pledge that, and no attorney general should ever pledge that."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Saletan said. "This was a really simple question. The question was: Will federal law enforcement be independent of the White House and its political motives? And the fact that Blanche won't say yes to that question just tells you already that he is afraid of Trump and he is weak and he will let Trump control the Department of Justice."

Blanche's answer about whether he would refuse an illegal order from Trump seemed more concerning.

"The president will never ask me to do something unethical or illegal," Blanche told Welker.

Saletan noted that claim seemed at odds with the recent DOJ history.

"Wait a minute," Saletan said before putting up a picture of Trump's post from Truth Social where he directed former Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute several of his political enemies, including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"So, when Blanche sits there and says Trump would never ask him to do anything unethical or illegal, he is absolutely lying," Saletan said.

An expert flagged a staggering irony that Attorney General Todd Blanche and the Department of Justice appear to be using in their scheme to "cover up anybody" mentioned in the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Katie Phang, a journalist who sued the DOJ over its redactions in the Epstein files, discussed the latest developments in her lawsuit on a new episode of the politics podcast, "The Breakdown," with host Allison Gill. She said the judge was unhappy with the DOJ's move to send an uninformed attorney to the latest hearing, and she also highlighted an ironic aspect of the DOJ's position in a recent order.

Recently, Judge Emmet Sullivan issued a preliminary injunction against the DOJ over its Epstein files redactions, which Phang explained is a legal way to get something back to the norm. However, this presents a serious legal problem for the court because, Phang argued, the DOJ's norm in this case has been to mishandle the files.

Phang said Sullivan seemed to pick up on it in his response.

"The irony is that the judge in this case, the purpose of his injunction being entered was to comply with the law," Phang said. "So, he was saying, 'I want to stop your non-compliance by ordering you to do this.'"

Phang also noted that Sullivan has "accelerated from zero to 100" concerning non-compliance from Blanche and the DOJ. One outstanding issue that impacts the case is whether the DOJ can continue to claim the Privacy Act prevents it from revealing the identity of anyone who self-identifies as a victim, a claim that Phang said it is using to shield some of Epstein's associates.

"You really have to ask yourself, 'Why draw such broad parameters?'" Phang asked. "It's almost like they've created more work for themselves, but in reality, it just gave them a shield to be able to hide behind to not again investigate leads and/or prosecute on the face of these documents, and stuff that's even unredacted. There's enough there for at least some FBI investigation into various people."

All of this has become much more problematic after Blanche was confirmed as the attorney general, Gill noted.

"If you've got an attorney general who's allowing people to self-identify as victims and you're not considering anything other than their self-identification and redacting them just because they say so, and you're also redacting emails for the Privacy Act, between those two things, you can cover up anybody's name in the world," Gill said.

One Republican senator couldn't seem to catch a break while he made the rounds on the Sunday shows.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) sparred with Martha Raddatz of ABC News during a tense interview on Sunday's broadcast of "This Week" over his past support for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Raddatz confronted Cassidy with evidence that Kennedy had bamboozled him during Kennedy's confirmation process, a point that Cassidy conceded readily. Even so, Raddatz's line of questioning seemed to give Cassidy more of a headache than he bargained for when he agreed to appear on the program.

"People love to go there," Cassidy said when Raddatz asked him point-blank whether Kennedy had lied to him about changing the vaccine schedule. "I think it speaks for itself."

Cassidy then laughed.

"You know, my staff told me I was going to get this question, and I said 'Yeah, for the ten 10,000th time,'" he added. "So, it's pretty evident."

That same morning, Cassidy appeared on CNN's "State of the Union" with Jake Tapper, where he faced a similar line of questioning about Kennedy, as well as tough questions about his "yes" vote to confirm Attorney General Todd Blanche.

Cassidy's admission wasn't enough to save him from facing the wrath of the internet after the interview concluded.

"Of course RFK Jr lied. He repeatedly lied in his confirmation hearing, and Cassidy voted for him," Jack Pitney, a professor at Claremont McKenna College, posted on X.

"Lol," Dr. Pradheed Shankar, a radiologist, posted on X.

"But Blanche would never!" the MeidasTouch Network posted on X, referring to Blanche's recent confirmation, where he promised multiple senators that the so-called "anti-weaponization" fund is "dead."

President Donald Trump seems to be treading a well-worn path to disaster with his latest series of attacks against Democrats, according to two political analysts.

Over the last several weeks, Trump has called Democrats every nasty name in the book, from "jihadists" to "communists" and "criminals." Sidney Blumental and Sean Wilentz, co-hosts of "The Court of History" podcast, noted on a new episode that these attacks have a long history in American politics. But the Trump line of attacks seems to suggest that his message is falling flat with voters ahead of a consequential midterm election, they argued.

Wilentz noted that Trump's attacks are in line with the "paranoid style" of politics that emerged under the McCarthy era.

He noted that the "lavender scare" circulated around the idea that queer people were national security threats because of their lifestyles, a threat that was ginned up by none other than Roy Cohn, an infamous lawyer who allegedly taught Trump every dirty trick in the book.

A similar attack framework has emerged against Texas Democrat James Talarico, Wilentz noted, arguing that Republicans are trying to make him out to be "a sissy."

"Will it work?" Wilentz asked. "I don't see it happening, but we'll see what happens."

Blumenthal described Trump's demonization of Democrats as his "last gasp" ahead of the midterms.

Wilentz also noted that these kinds of attacks seem to be all Trump has to lean on as the midterms approach.

"What else has he got? I mean, he hasn't got any issues on his side," Wilentz said. "He's got an unpopular war, the economy's in the tank, inflation's out of control, gas prices are going crazy. Everything that he said he was going to accomplish, he has not accomplished and has only made worse. So, what is he supposed to do going into the midterms? Well, all he can do is the same old playbook, which is this demonization."

Former Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace was roundly mocked on Sunday after she debuted her new tattooed look on her YouTube show.

Mace appeared on her program, "Get Maced," in a sleeveless shirt revealing at least nine new tattoos she's gotten since losing the South Carolina Republican primary for governor, The New York Post reported. Mace said the new tattoos gave her "the pain that I need to feel" after leaving Congress. She also described her transformation as a way to "reclaim" her identity, according to the report.

Mace's new look, and her explanations for it, were roundly mocked on social media.

"We’re living in a simulation," Shannon Watts, a Democratic activist, posted on X.

"Nostalgia for those lost days when Congresspersons at least made some attempt to suggest that they were in the service of US citizens & not self-exhibiting as unemployed actors eager for any sort of publicity," author Joyce Carol Oates posted on X.

"I told you all for years, this b---- is crazy," Brendan Dilley, host of "The Dilley Show," a politics and entertainment podcast, posted on X.

"She’s one step closer to dying her hair blue and getting a nose piercing," Mike Nellis, a Democratic strategist, posted on X.

CNN data guru Harry Enten was floored on Sunday as he discussed the results of a new poll that showed President Donald Trump is "breaking records in ways you don't want to."

According to a recently conducted CNN poll, about 79% of Americans disagree with how Trump has handled gas prices during his second term. The poll was conducted in late July, and includes the impacts of Trump's disastrous war against Iran in its figures.

"I can tell you that the American people very much dislike, dare I say, President Trump when it comes to gas prices," Enten said on CNN's "Newsroom" on Sunday. "Not a huge surprise, given where gas prices are, but it's to a historic degree the hatred for President Trump on gas prices. Look at this!"

One particular data point that caught Enten's eye is that Trump's disapproval rating on gas prices is significantly higher than any of his living predecessors recorded at any time during their administrations. For instance, former President Joe Biden's disapproval rating on gas prices topped out at 72% during the COVID-19 pandemic. George W. Bush's disapproval rate hit 75% during the War on Terror, Enten noted.

"So, Donald Trump is breaking records in the ways that you, simply put, do not want to be breaking records want to be breaking records when it comes to gas prices and how Americans view the job that he's done," Enten said.

The concerns have also metastacized within Trump's party, Enten added. He said 52% of Republicans disapprove of Trump's handling of gas prices.

"This, simply put, is the type of number that, if you're a Republican running in these midterm elections, you do not like," Enten said. "You very much want to be running away from President Trump, at least when it comes to how Americans view him on gas."

President Donald Trump stoked alarm on Sunday after he adhered to a foreign dictator's demands to reduce U.S. military exercises with South Korea.

Trump announced on Truth Social that he had directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to reduce the scale of the joint military exercises conducted between the U.S. and South Korea. The move came just days after North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un described the exercises as a threat to his regime, and promised to escalate retaliatory threats in response.

"These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America (as usual!), but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful," Trump wrote.

Trump's announcement rankled political analysts and observers across the political spectrum, some of whom shared their reactions on social media.

"God help us," Ken Gardner, a political commentator, posted on X.

"North Korea just provided Russia with thousands of missiles to attack Ukraine. Russia is working with Iran to murder U.S. citizens," Laura Loomer, a MAGA influencer, posted on X. "I wouldn’t exactly call North Korea unthreatening and respectful, personally, now that we know Russia has been giving weapons and satellite imagery to Iran to kill U.S. soldiers."

"Helping North Korea even as they send 50,000 troops to help Putin. Almost seems as if it’s coordinated. Almost seems as if Vladimir Putin is acting as the White House chief of staff," Norman Ornstein, a contributing editor at The Atlantic and a political scientist, posted on X.

"Russia before Ukraine and now N Korea before S. Korea. We have now lost international credibility," Jeff Storobinsky, host of the "In Front of Us" podcast, posted on X.

President Donald Trump appeared to bow to a dictator's demands in a stunning move on Sunday.

In a pithy Truth Social post, Trump said he directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to scale back joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea. The two countries have been conducting military exercises together since the 1970s in an effort to deter future aggression by North Korea, a country that Trump claims to have a "very good" relationship with.

"Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, I am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea," Trump wrote on social media. "These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America (as usual!), but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful."

Trump's announcement came after North Korea bashed the exercises on Friday, which Kim Jong Un's regime described as "a rehearsal for an aggressive war," the AP reported.

It also came at a time when Kim Jong Un has sought to bolster his nuclear arsenal, and has sent troops to fight on behalf of U.S. enemies like Russia in the country's war of aggression against Ukraine.

NORTHCOM Deputy Commander Lt. Gen. Joseph Jarrard also issued a warning about North Korea's military capabilities on Sunday that seem to collide with Trump's decision.

“North Koreans have successfully flight-tested ICBMs with enough boost to deliver a nuclear payload anywhere in North America," Jarrard said.

Kim Jong Un's threats seemed to have landed close to home for Trump, who called on Hegseth to reduce the exercises.

Therefore, and based on the fact that it is too late to cancel, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises!" Trump wrote.

He also unveiled a quizzical explanation for the move, tying it to his disastrous war against Iran.

"While somewhat unrelated (?), I recently asked the President of South Korea if they would like to join us in the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, 'No thanks!'" Trump claimed.

A message shared by one of the top admirals in the U.S. Navy after visiting the stranded crew on the USS Abraham Lincoln sparked fireworks on Sunday.

Admiral Brad Cooper, who leads United States Central Command, said on Sunday that his time aboard the ship was "awe-inspiring," although he admitted that being deployed at sea for long periods "isn't for everyone." Cooper also noted that the mental health challenges reported by sailors on the ship are lower than those of other carriers that are not deployed near Iran.

Cooper's visit came just days after Trump seemed to bash the sailors on the ship, some of whom have reportedly thrown themselves overboard to escape the conditions. Reports also indicate the ship is running low on essential supplies like food, medical items, and female hygiene products.

Cooper's comments also sparked backlash from analysts, some of whom described his claims as "gaslighting."

"The gaslighting of the Sailors onboard USS Lincoln and their families is disheartening. My Shipmates deserve better," Travis Akers, a retired Navy intelligence officer, posted on X.

"Gaslighting on new levels," Rose Benson, a comedian, posted on X.

"Old enough to remember when the Department of Defense used to embed journalists in deployed US forces when America was at war. I guess that's only for LEGAL, not ILLEGAL wars," Dan Garrett, a political scientist, posted on X.

President Donald Trump uncorked a scorched-earth rant against Fox News and its host, Shannon Bream, after Bream challenged some of Trump's biggest claims on Sunday.

Bream challenged newly minted Attorney General Todd Blanche about the so-called "anti-weaponization" fund that he is pursuing on behalf of the president during her Sunday show, "Fox News Sunday." The fund would pay claims to people who allege the federal government wrongfully prosecuted them. She also discussed some of the challenges Republicans are facing ahead of the midterm elections, such as their refusal to address the cost-of-living crisis many Americans are suffering through.

Trump was apparently unhappy with Bream after the show ended, and took to Truth Social to express his displeasure.

"Watching FoxNews (sic) with Shannon Bream is always like watching the Worst of Fake News CNN," Trump wrote. He added that she "always seems to pick guests, charts, and 'polls' that are negative" and refuses to confirm his claims about "all of the incredible things that the Trump Administration has done."

Trump claimed his administration had achieved the "most successful stock market in history" and the "essential Denuclearization of Iran," adding, "The rest to follow!" He also touted that he has achieved the "lowest crime rate in history," although that trend stretches back nearly half a century, and "the highest number of people employed," even though economic data shows more people are leaving the workforce than are entering it.

"Yet, week after week, I see Shannon 'interviewing' hostile guests, and having losers like Juan Williams, who got fired like a dog from PBS, was thrown off of The Five for somebody even dumber than him, Jessica Tarlov, and when he saw me walking into the Headquarters of Fox, he went CRAZY, begging me for a picture," Trump wrote.

"In any event, Shannon’s 'show' is beyond redemption," he continued. "Fortunately, MAGA, which is close to 100% of the Republican Party, understands that, and watch her 'Ratings' start to fall. Chris Wallace was bad, but Shannon is even worse! Oh well, it couldn’t have had too much of an impact, because I’m now heading back into the Oval Office to continue working on more TRIUMPHS and SUCCESSES for our Country!"

President Donald Trump's economy has created a "possibly permanent" new era that has confirmed the fears of many of America's top economists, according to one expert.

Throughout Trump's second term, his administration has sought to deport millions of people the administration claims are in the country illegally. Those efforts are already starting to negatively affect the U.S. economy, according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman. If they continue, Krugman warned, the U.S. economy may never recover.

"Since Donald Trump returned to the White House ... job growth has slowed to a crawl," Krugman wrote in a new Substack essay on Sunday. "Granted, it’s nothing like the plunge in employment that took place in 2020, as Covid shut much of the economy down. And a couple of strong job reports earlier this year encouraged some observers to believe that the worst of the Trump II job drought might be over."

"But the most recent Employment Situation report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that employment actually fell in July, while simultaneously revising the estimates for earlier months down," he added. "Thus July’s report confirmed the now widespread view among economists that the Trump-era job slowdown isn’t a blip. It’s now clear that America has entered a new, possibly permanent era of stagnant employment."

Earlier this month, the BLS released a jobs report that showed the country lost 23,000 jobs between June and July. The only industries to see growth during that period were health care and social services, which some analysts say speaks to the overall weakness of the economy.

Krugman highlighted several challenges that could accompany the new economy Trump is creating.

"Well, it is indeed a problem. One reason is that America’s responsibilities — to ensure national security, to take care of retirees, maintain public infrastructure and provide health care — remain the same, but there will now be fewer workers, paying less taxes, than previously expected to meet those responsibilities. Moreover, foreign-born workers bring distinct skills and are willing to do jobs native-born workers shun, such as emptying bedpans and picking fruit. Removing them from the U.S. economy will leave the rest of us poorer and with a lower quality of life.

A nanny who was recently released from custody shared horrific details of her time in captivity during a new interview Sunday.

Iliana Lick, an Argentinian nanny who was working for two families in Philadelphia, was recently arrested by President Donald Trump's Immigration and Customs Enforcement troops after she was accused of overstaying her visa "without permission," she told CNN National Correspondent Rafael Romo. Although she has been released and is back home in Philadelphia, Lick recalled several disturbing details about her time in multiple ICE facilities.

Romo recounted some of the details during a segment on CNN "Newsroom" with host Fredricka Whitfield.

"Lick told me she's going through a roller coaster of emotions and that trying to go back to normal has been weird because she's thinking of all the time about the other people in detention she met while in custody of [ICE]," Romo said.

Lick, who primarily shared her story in Spanish, told Romo that she was released on a $10,000 bond and forced to wear an ankle monitor after her release. She was also moved through multiple ICE facilities while she was detained. At each stop, "she and other detainees had to wear a black and white striped jail uniform while wearing full restraints that included ankle cuffs and shackles," like they did when they were held in Cambria County Prison in Pennsylvania.

Romo noted that ICE had also tried to impugn Lick's character by describing her as an "illegal alien" in a news release after she was let out of custody.

"She felt she was being treated as a common criminal and insisted that she shouldn't have been detained in the first place because she has always complied with immigration law," Romo recounted. "She said, 'I paid all the fees. I went to all the hearings. My case was pending. I was never out of status.'"

Lick will be in front of an immigration judge again in about a week and a half, Romo said.

President Donald Trump's administration seems to be on a warpath to destroy government data, and one analyst thinks they have figured out why.

Catherine Rampell, economic editor at The Bulwark, wrote in a new article on Thursday that many of the recent moves the Trump administration has made can be understood as efforts to protect the right to commit fraud. She pointed to the administration pausing enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, suspending data collections under the Corporate Transparency Act, and pardoning fraudsters left and right.

"They’re effectively salting the earth, so that sex traffickers, scam artists, drug lords, money-launderers, and tax cheats can roam free not only through the end of Trump’s time in office but long after he’s out, too," Rampell wrote.

Trump's efforts to gut corporate data collections serve as a startling example of his efforts to make it easier to commit fraud. The administration recently made permanent a set of rules that exempted "99 percent" of companies from corporate data disclosures "while also pledging to destroy any existing data," Rampell wrote.

"Treasury says it still mandates disclosure of ownership of foreign shell companies," Rampell noted. "This may be technically true as a matter of following the letter of the law, but the administration crafted loopholes big enough to drive a cocaine-packed Mack truck through."

She also noted that the Trump administration's relaxed rules around shell companies could make it easier for drug cartels to launder money by buying private jets, Rampell noted.

"Instead Trump has declared he will, for all intents and purposes, ignore the law and delete any data collected while the law was still being enforced under his predecessor," she wrote. "The result, financial experts say, is that law enforcement officials will have fewer leads available when tracking down fraudsters and cartels."

CNN anchor Pamela Brown stunned the panel on CNN's "The Arena" on Thursday with a family story about President Donald Trump's latest obsession.

Reports indicated that Trump aides had found a loophole to place the president's name on the Kennedy Center after a judge earlier this year ordered the administration to take it down. Matt Mowers, a former Trump administration official, defended the move by arguing that most Americans don't care about the issue, and that the president "doesn't really care that much either."

Brown interjected with a story that other panelists said "explains it all."

"I know he does," Brown said about Trump's push to rename the Kennedy Center. "He told my mom in his 20s that his dream was to have his name on every building in the world."

"Well, there you go!" former Republican lawmaker Adam Kinzinger said, laughing.

"My mom would always tell that story that that that was his big dream, dream," Brown added.

Mowers broke out laughing at the story as well.

Trump has displayed a near-obsession with remaking Washington, D.C., in his image during his second term. Outside of remodeling and renaming the Kennedy Center, Trump has also sought to paint several statues around the city gold and to erect an Arc de Trump in the District, modeled after the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.