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President Donald Trump's administration has spurred an outcry from critics who fear a new policy proposal would effectively result in the human trafficking of children.

The Trump administration is seeking approval for up to $2.3 billion for a follow-on contract to its self-deportation program, one that would include stipends for unaccompanied migrant children who "choose" to leave the country and mobile "rover" teams recruiting detainees nationwide, according to an investigation by PunchUp.

“It looks and feels a lot like human trafficking,” said immigration lawyer Rekha Sharma-Crawford. “That might sound controversial, but if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s probably not a car horn.”

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), a ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, added that the contract going after children is “gross and un-American,” and that the wider scheme’s “ballooning cost” is “extremely concerning.”

DHS posted a 52-page draft contract dated Aug. 7 on the federal procurement portal, more than double the $915 million ceiling of the program's earlier iteration.

The draft contains only one reference to children, instructing contractors to issue stipends "only to Government-designated adult recipients," with no additional safeguards or standards specified for minors anywhere in the document.

This formalizes a practice DHS began last October, offering unaccompanied children as young as 14 a $2,500 payment to abandon legal claims to remain in the country. Unlike the earlier version, which required judicial sign-off and delivered payment directly to the child upon return home, the new contract routes funds to an unspecified adult designee instead.

PunchUp's earlier reporting found that roughly half of the program's "voluntary" participants agreed to leave only after being detained.

The new contract would expand that approach, deploying two-person enrollment teams to 35 detention facilities tasked with signing up 36 detainees per site daily, backed by roaming units dispatched wherever demand arises.

Thompson said the plan appears designed to pressure people held in "terrible conditions" into forfeiting due process rights to boost deportation statistics, and Sharma-Crawford again raised alarm about the well-being of children targeted for deportation.

“The cavalier way with which this administration peddles in human life for money is pretty shocking,” Sharma-Crawford told PunchUp. “That the document does not contain any child-centered safeguards protecting children is not and has never been a priority for this administration.”

The contract is the second installment of Project Homecoming, whose original $915 million deal went to Salus Worldwide Solutions, a two-year-old company with no prior experience as a lead federal contractor, under then-Secretary Kristi Noem.

That award has since become entangled in a wider scandal involving Noem's ouster, allegations that contractors were asked to pay kickbacks to adviser Corey Lewandowski, and an active DHS Inspector General criminal investigation.

Salus has reportedly burned through nearly all its funding, including a $200 million extension issued in May.

The new contract introduces stipend tiers up to $4,000 per person, a 1 percent tax on payouts, and requires winning bidders to use commercial tracing tools to locate migrants who don't respond to outreach, alongside a taxpayer-funded advertising campaign in ten cities.

Bids are due Sept. 2. Sources told PunchUp that Salus is considered unlikely to win the new contract, which drew interest from Palantir, GEO Group and CSI Aviation at a closed briefing last week.

DHS and Salus did not answer questions about the roughly 70,000 migrants still awaiting departure or how many are children.

Sen. Jon Husted's Ohio race could be the canary in the coal mine for the Republican Party on an issue that has generated widespread public backlash.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee has privately warned top AI companies that public backlash against data centers is threatening the party's ability to hold Husted's seat, and that a loss could trigger a nationwide political reckoning for the industry, according to a memo obtained by Axios.

"GOP warns AI companies that data centers are politically radioactive [and claims it's[ costing them Ohio and will spread," wrote Axios co-founder Jim VandeHei.

The memo, titled "Ohio Data Center Risk," says Democrats have turned data centers into a "centerpiece" of their campaign to unseat Husted, and that the strategy is working.

"If he loses and data centers get the blame, politicians across the country will take notice — and they will not go near the next one," the memo states, calling it "a sleeper issue for the entire election cycle."

Husted's opponent, former Sen. Sherrod Brown, has spent millions this summer on ads branding Husted "the face of data centers in Ohio," a state hosting several major projects, including a recently announced Nvidia and OpenAI campus, along with facilities from Meta, Vantage and QTS. A Fox News poll last week showed Brown leading Husted by 8 points.

Republicans and AI executives reportedly share growing alarm, with internal polling described as showing data centers are about as popular as spent nuclear waste. Facilities have drawn community protests over heavy electricity and water use, rising utility bills, and minimal job creation, while also becoming a broader outlet for public anxiety about AI-driven job losses.

There are currently more than 4,000 data centers operating nationwide, with over 3,000 more proposed or under construction.

The backlash isn't confined to Republicans. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat weighing a 2028 presidential run, signed an executive order this week imposing "strict guardrails" on data center development, signaling that even previously supportive politicians are moving to get ahead of the issue.

The NRSC memo puts the onus on AI companies to repair public perception, urging them to clearly explain "who benefits, who pays, and why a community should want one."

Absent that, the memo warns, Ohio won't be an isolated case: "If voters' perceptions of data centers are not fixed quickly, the campaign against them will expand far beyond Ohio."

Republicans are struggling to reverse the political damage caused by President Donald Trump's immigration agenda, according to a new poll.

The Trump administration has pulled back on high-profile ICE raids in blue cities and worked to minimize public clashes with protesters and community members, but new a new Politico poll found those efforts have failed to move the needle.

With less than 90 days until the election, the poll conducted earlier this month by Public First shows half of Americans, including nearly a quarter of Trump's own 2024 voters, still say his mass deportation campaign is too aggressive, numbers virtually unchanged since January and April surveys.

The persistent backlash follows months of outrage over federal agents killing two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis. A 56 percent majority of Americans say they've noticed at least a small shift in how the administration is conducting deportations, but a plurality, 44 percent, say those shifts have made no difference in their trust of the administration on immigration, while 30 percent say the changes have made them trust the administration even less.

Republican strategists warned the administration's continued push to boost arrest and deportation numbers keeps generating the same viral, unpopular images that fueled the initial backlash.

"It's a lot easier just to go into an airport and find somebody who had overstayed a visa... and throw them into handcuffs," said GOP pollster Whit Ayres, calling it "a great way to thoroughly antagonize public opinion."

The GOP is also fracturing internally, as MAGA loyalists have accused the administration of going soft, particularly after border czar Tom Homan and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin moved to ease tensions following the Minneapolis killings, including a since-reversed pause on some ICE vehicle stops.

Conservative commentator Tomi Lahren warned the retreat could suppress turnout, tweeting, "We are being betrayed in real time." Meanwhile, non-MAGA Trump voters remain twice as likely as MAGA voters to call the deportation campaign too aggressive, 31 percent versus 15 percent.

The White House disputes the narrative, pointing to spring polling showing 80 percent support for deporting immigrants convicted of crimes and highlighting recent DHS arrests of alleged violent offenders.

"Americans are grateful to the President for removing these criminals from their neighborhoods," said spokesperson Lauren Bis.

Still, the poll suggests neither base is fully satisfied, leaving Republicans without a clear message heading into the fall campaign.

President Donald Trump's second term is defined chiefly by his hunger for revenge, and that obsession is now on a foreboding collision course with his greatest strategic failure.

Trump's vengeance-driven governing style back to his first hours in office, when he stripped security protection from officials he viewed as disloyal, including Gen. Mark Milley, John Bolton, Mike Pompeo and Mark Esper, and New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie argued that impulse has since expanded to target ordinary private citizens who defy him.

"The Ahab-like tenacity of the White House in its pursuit of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia might make sense if he were some criminal mastermind — a danger to the public order," Bouie wrote. "He wasn’t. He was just an ordinary person, a working member of his community who happened to be an easy target for the president’s deportation machine."

Abrego Garcia was deported and imprisoned despite a unanimous Supreme Court order for his return, and then later indicted on criminal charges once he successfully fought his removal, although a judge dismissed those charges in May. The Justice Department is now asking an appeals court to reinstate them.

" Trump has, for most of the summer, been pursuing a vendetta against David Hearn, a former Olympic canoeist," Bouie wrote. "Hearn was accused of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial, which is in a state of disrepair in the wake of the president’s attempted renovations."

The Justice Department eventually acknowledged the damage stemmed from a "flawed installation," and U.S. attorney Jeanine Pirro infuriated the 80-year-old president by dropping that case.

"Trump is hardly the first powerful person to abuse the law enforcement powers of the federal government to pursue narrow interests and petty grievances," Bouie wrote.

Richard Nixon infamously turned the FBI and IRS against his own enemies, and J. Edgar Hoover, abused his authority as FBI director to hound the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but he said Trump's doesn't even pretend his actions are in the nation interest.

"Trump does no such thing," the columnist wrote. "He does not see himself as a man in possession of an office, heading a government, so much as he sees himself as the government. The state is an extension of his person. He is the king, and it is one of his two bodies."

That's why his ongoing failure to end the Iran war he started poses such an ominous threat, Bouie argued, as the president tries to "shed the stench of defeat."

The conflict has been a military failure and strategic mistake with no clear endpoint, Bouie wrote, and the ongoing negotiations and missile strikes are simply an effort to avoid the appearance of defeat rather than a genuine path to peace – and he warned that Trump would become desperate and dangerous once he realized he cannot win the war.

"What if Trump is truly stuck, fully caught in a trap of his own making?" Bouie asked

"With the terrible power of the United States at his fingertips, it is frightening to contemplate what he might do to save his fragile sense of self," he concluded. "He has already tried to wreck the country in pursuit of revenge against all those who challenge his ego and authority. There’s no reason to think that he won’t try to wreck the world in pursuit of the same."

President Donald Trump disavowed a scandal-plagued Republican congressman he had endorsed for re-election.

The 80-year-old president extended his "complete and total endorsement for re-election" to Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) in February, despite allegations of sexual misconduct and campaign finance violations, but he claimed after Tuesday's primary election that he told the Florida Republican to drop out.

"I told Congressman Cory Mills of Florida, a friend of mine, to get out of the Race, but he wouldn’t listen," Trump posted Wednesday morning. "He thought he could win, so who can blame him? We now have a great candidate, Ryan Elijah, running in his place! Ryan stands for EVERYTHING MAGA, and is respected by ALL. He has my Complete and Total Endorsement!"

Elijah, a former TV journalist, won the GOP nomination over Mills in Florida’s 7th District, a seat Trump carried by 12 percentage points in 2024.

Democrats had hoped to make that district competitive in November, especially if Mills – the subject of probes by House Ethics Committee and the Justice Department – had been on the ballot.

Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) was buried in mockery after fumbling an answer on foreign policy – her late brother's core issue – during a Republican Senate debate.

The recently appointed senator was asked during the debate Tuesday night whether the U.S. has a national security interest in Taiwan and the South China Sea, and the sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham was unable to answer.

“I’m just going to be honest here — I’m not on national security,” she said. “I’m not that informed on national security, but I do support the military.”

“National security is not my thing," she added.

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), her opponent in the GOP primary runoff election, pounced on Graham's answer after the debate.

"She's running for the United States Senate," he said. "It's a six-year term. You need to get, you need to get fully versed in what issues you're going to be dealing with. This isn't a trained, you know, getting trained on the job."

Others were less diplomatic online.

Quipped humorist Paul Rudnick, "In a debate Darline Graham admitted she doesn't know anything about national security, 'But I often saw my brother Lindsey in the company of soldiers sometimes in swimwear.'"

"This is painful to watch," winced Reason's Billy Binion. “'Being related to a former lawmaker is not a qualification for the Senate."

"Often when you have a mistake like this, it's in a moment, you're rushed, you're tired – that's not what this is," observed former congresswoman Katie Porter on CNN. "This might be just dumb! Ralph Norman is not the sharpest tool in the shed either."

"Yeah if this is your answer, you are not qualified to be a US Senator," opined Democratic influencer Adam Cochran. "This is why party approved nepotism has no place in US politics."

"Back in the day, Sen. Kennedy said of Lindsey Graham 'if you want to stump Lindsey, ask him to name a country he wouldn't bomb,'" recalled journalist Eric Michael Garcia. "The fact his sister didn't know this and just offered a perfunctory line that 'I support the military' reveals how out of her depth she is."

"Not sure how to feel about this," sighed history teacher Ashley Duffany. "On one hand, I'm horrified she's running for Senate and unfamiliar with NatSec issues... especially basic ones like this. On the other hand, I'm just glad she admitted the truth! Low bar these days."

"Remember that SNL skit with Chevy Chase satirizing Gerald Ford by saying, 'It was my understanding that there would be no math'?" asked Grant Stern of Occupy Democrats. "Well, Darline Graham just did it in the South Carolina Republican Senate debate. In real life."

"I'd like to congratulate Darlene Graham on her new title as 'South Carolina candidate with worst answer on international issues,'" clapped Mike Nelson of The Dispatch, adding a photo of the Miss Teen USA contestant who provided an infamously jumbled answer about geography. "Nobody thought the old champ could be unseated."

A federal judge has ordered an unusual review of grand jury materials tied to the indictment of several media figures in a case stemming from a January protest in Minnesota.

Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko in a rare move ordered the Department of Justice to turn over testimony and evidence presented to a grand jury in the conspiracy case against former CNN anchor Don Lemon and dozens of other people accused of disrupting a church service during the protest, CNN reported Wednesday.

"They say they were covering the protests as journalists, which Don is now," said CNN's Kate Bolduan. "This new order, described as extraordinary, compels the Justice Department to provide the judge with the presentations DOJ made to the grand jury in January and February that resulted in Lemon's indictment."

According to the order, the materials must include any introduction, legal instructions on the two counts, witness testimony, closing arguments, and answers to grand jurors' questions.

CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson argued the order reflects broader unease among judges about whether the Justice Department under President Donald Trump is operating independently of the White House, pointing to cases involving James Comey and Letitia James as context fueling that scrutiny.

He explained that grand jury proceedings are normally shielded from outside review, with prosecutors alone controlling what evidence and legal instructions jurors receive, since defense attorneys and defendants are barred from the room.

Jackson noted the review does not mean the case will be dismissed, but said the stakes are significant. If the judge determines that DOJ improperly manipulated the grand jury process, the case could collapse entirely, he said, citing a similar dismissal in Chicago involving anti-ICE protesters after a U.S. attorney apologized for prosecutorial misconduct there.

Jackson also highlighted that the DOJ reportedly sought search and arrest warrants from two separate magistrates who denied the requests before prosecutors turned to the grand jury instead, which he said seemingly raised the judge's suspicions.

"The judge is saying, 'Hey, you went to a magistrate to get this actual to get a search warrant and to get an arrest warrant, and you went to two different ones and they said no, and then you, DOJ, bypassed that and you went to the grand jury,'" Jackson said. "'There might be something here I better look,' and that's what this judge is doing, saying, 'I want to look under the hood.'"

"I think that's the right call for justice," Jackson added.

Jackson emphasized that a grand jury indictment requires only a finding of probable cause, not guilt, and that a quorum of 16 out of 23 jurors is needed, with 12 votes required to indict. Because DOJ has sole control over evidence and instructions presented in that setting, he said, judicial oversight in cases like this exists specifically to ensure the process wasn't manipulated for political ends.

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A MAGA commentator discussed taking over as White House press secretary with chief of staff Susie Wiles in secret meetings – even before Karoline Leavitt's departure was even publicly announced, new reports show.

Scott Jennings, one of CNN's most prominent defenders of President Donald Trump, has emerged as the 28-year-old Leavitt's most likely successor, but three sources familiar with the selection process told The Daily Mail that he has met with Wiles at least one more time since their initial conversation about the job.

The two now "speak often," the publication reported, and one source told the outlet the job is "his if he wants it," adding, "he does."

Jennings, who is a columnist for The Daily Mail, has declined to publicly confirm interest in the role since the Daily Beast first reported the opening, but has ramped up media appearances that suggest otherwise.

His most recent meeting with Wiles reportedly took place over the weekend at Morton's steakhouse near the White House, while other contenders for the job vied for Trump's attention at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

"They were all trying to get in front of him this weekend," one source said. "It was like 'The Apprentice.' It reeks of desperation."

The White House has denied that any meetings between Jennings and Wiles took place. Jennings previously served as a senior aide in the George W. Bush administration and as an adviser to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

Despite Wiles' reported backing, sources told the Mail the decision isn't final, and Trump has indicated he'd prefer another woman fill the role.

Aide Natalie Harp, 35, whose closeness to Trump has drawn scrutiny in recent months, is reportedly vying for the job, the outlet reported, along with former Trump attorney Alina Habba, current DHS press secretary Katie Zacharia, her predecessor Tricia McLaughlin, RNC spokesperson Elizabeth Pipko, and former Kennedy Center spokesperson Roma Davari.

Other reported candidates include Housing and Urban Development chief Bill Pulte, Breitbart's D.C. bureau chief Matthew Boyle, and White House Communications Director Steven Cheung.

President Donald Trump's "crack spread" problem isn't going to get better any time soon, according to a new analysis.

When Trump touts a possible peace deal with Iran and crude oil prices drop, drivers might assume gas prices will follow. But they usually don't, and the reason lies in a lesser-known metric called the crack spread, wrote energy and global oil expert Skip York in a New York Times op-ed.

"Focusing on the price of crude is misleading, a bit like following the price of wheat when it's bread that you're actually buying," wrote York, a fellow at the Center for Energy Studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute. "The gauge to watch is what's called the crack spread — the difference between the cost of a barrel of crude and the prices of the refined products made from it."

The term "cracking" refers to the refining process of breaking large hydrocarbon molecules into smaller, usable fuel molecules, York explained, and that crack expands when crude oil prices fall faster than gas and diesel prices.

The spread matters because crude prices and pump prices don't move in lockstep, he wrote. By the end of July, crude oil had fallen about 25 percent from its April peak, but gasoline had dropped only about 9 percent. That gap is the crack spread widening, and it reflects what's known as the "rocket and feather" effect, when retail gas prices shoot up quickly when wholesale costs rise.

"When wholesale prices of gasoline spike, service station owners raise prices quickly because they know their future gas deliveries will be more expensive," York wrote "They might also notice that competitors are raising prices and act accordingly, as nobody wants to sell today's fuel at yesterday's price and forego the profits."

"Conversely, when station owners see wholesale costs start to fall," he added, "they're not necessarily in a rush to cut prices and sacrifice profit margins — at least until customers start to notice."

Right now, the crack spread is being driven wider by a global refining squeeze rather than a crude oil shortage, York wrote. Ukrainian drone strikes have knocked out significant Russian refining capacity, and the Iran-U.S. conflict has damaged refineries in the Persian Gulf, even as crude production in both regions recovers.

Roughly 9 percent of global refining capacity is currently offline, he added. China, the world's largest crude importer and refiner, has also cut crude imports to an eight-year low while simultaneously restricting fuel exports, tightening global supply of finished products even further.

Crude oil isn't in short supply, but the capacity to turn it into usable fuel is, York explained. That's why wholesale gasoline and diesel prices have risen roughly 59 percent and 69 percent over the past year, far outpacing crude's 36 percent increase, a structural problem more likely to keep pump prices elevated than any single crude price swing.

The White House's furious reaction to Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) mocking President Donald Trump's reliance on aide Natalie Harp reveals deep anxiety about the 80-year-old's visible decline, according to a new column.

Salon's Amanda Marcotte argued Wednesday that Ossoff's brief mention of Harp, the president's close personal aide, "struck a nerve" because it served to shine a light on something many had already noticed.

"Some have speculated that given Trump’s long history of chronic adultery, there might be something more to the arrangement," Marcotte wrote. "Others, pointing to Trump’s strange gait and prominent backside, which is often seen to have an odd shape, wonder if he might be forced to wear a medical device or garments. The expanding size of the bag Harp lugs around isn’t helping dissuade rumors that nursing duties are an important part of her job."

"Whatever the case, the rumors have served to draw more attention to Trump’s age," the columnist added. "But just the fact that he requires a woman to linger around him all the time, ready to express her devotion and that of his most ardent followers, isn’t a great look."

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman described the 35-year-old aide as Trump's "binkie," writing in the book "Regime Change" with colleague Jonathan Swan that Harp's role is essentially soothing the president by leaving him affirming notes and carrying a briefcase of flattering clippings to calm him when his mood needs stabilizing.

The White House response, Marcotte argued, only underscored the apparent anxiety about the president's fitness. Communications director Steven Cheung called Ossoff "the biggest cuck loser in politics," and aide Davis Ingle labeled him a "cringeworthy, feminine theatre kid" — both posting the same clip of a composed, confident Ossoff. Trump himself told a CNN reporter Ossoff looked like "Pee-wee Herman," a jab Marcotte called homophobic, antisemitic and outdated.

"It’s one more reminder that the president is very old," she wrote. "The character’s silver screen debut in 1985’s 'Pee-wee’s Big Adventure' came two years before Ossoff was even born. Back then, calling a Jewish man 'Pee-wee' to impugn his manhood was probably a huge hit with the bigots at the country club. Now it’s just confusing, especially since [the late actor Paul] Reubens is widely regarded as a comedy legend."

Macrotte cited a Reuters/Ipsos poll that found 64 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump's job performance, along with his unmet economic promises, an unresolved conflict with Iran, and recent health commentary from cardiologist Dr. Jonathan Reiner, who wrote in the New York Times that Trump "has not looked well," citing bruised hands, swollen legs and daytime drowsiness.

"Whatever the extent of Natalie Harp’s duties, it seems undeniable that she is there to keep the temperamental president calm by distracting him from his own failures with words of praise," Marcotte wrote. "That he needs this is a sign of profound weakness. Stable adults do not need full-time babysitters. That Harp’s job even exists is a testament to Trump’s incredible narcissism, but it also carries more than a whiff of elder care and suspicions about medical conditions that require monitoring and placating."

The White House's frenzied response is telling, she added.

"The White House’s extreme response only serves to underscore how worried they are about the narrative being created — one they themselves weaponized against another aging president, Joe Biden," Marcotte wrote. "By flipping out at anyone who brings it up, they’re only ensuring more people are paying attention."

CNN host Audie Cornish had to break up an argument on-air Wednesday morning as pundits hurled insults over the value of President Donald Trump's endorsement.

Anti-trans activist Terry Schilling spurred the heated debate when he questioned why Trump had thrown his support behind scandal-plagued candidates in GOP primaries.

"Look, I don't know much about Chuck Edwards – oh, I actually do," Schilling said, referring to a former North Carolina congressman who dropped out of his race over sexual misconduct allegations. "Yeah, well, look, [Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN), I don't think the campaign finance violations had anything to do with [his primary loss]. I think those are other things. But, look, [Rep.] Cory Mills (R-FL) deserved to lose. He should have lost. Trump never should have endorsed him."

Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright interrupted to underline the fact that Trump had endorsed Mills despite allegations of sexual misconduct and domestic violence against him, and he said that was part of a pattern.

"The president endorsed him, he endorsed Ken Paxton, he's standing by [Rep.] Max Miller (R-OH)," Seawright said. "So there's consistent pattern of behavior from this president and the serious allegations. Quite frankly, I know Democrats who have resigned from their seat, who've been dismissed from their seats for less serious allegations, and I think the party of family values have some serious evaluations to do."

Schilling begged to differ.

"I just think you're doing yourself a disservice to not distinguish between those people," Schilling interjected. "Ken Paxton stands a far and above all those other candidates because he's been a conservative warrior."

Seawright was incredulous, and he asked whether Paxton's political bona fides outweighed his indictment for securities fraud, bribery allegations, impeachment and acquittal and marital infidelity.

"So you're saying so you're saying Ken Paxton, with all of his baggage–" Seawright said.

Schilling cut in: "What I'm saying is voters care about what you're going to do in office."

"I just want to make sure I hear you clearly," Seawright snapped back. "You're saying Ken Paxton with all of his baggage. You're saying that does not matter, just based on his conservative record?"

"Yes, absolutely," Schilling insisted. "What we are saying is that what we care about is the results we get while in office."

"So you don't care about the affairs?" Seawright laughed. "You don't care about the baggage?"

"Guys – pause," Cornish cut in. "Lucky for you, this Congress, there's a spectrum between biblical divorce, outright domestic violence, and a lot in between, and unfortunately, in this, I don't know what to call it – dirtbag primary. There are a lot of people who have allegations of one kind or another, and sexual misconduct against women."

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A Florida Republican from Donald Trump's home district could potentially face the death penalty under a law he had championed as a state legislator.

Mike Caruso, the Palm Beach County clerk of courts and a staunch ally of Gov. Ron DeSantis, was arrested Tuesday morning on child sexual abuse charges, and a plugged-in reporter in the state pointed out a morbid irony in the case.

"As a FL legislator, Mike Caruso supported death penalty for pedophiles in 2023," said Axios reporter Marc Caputo. "Now he has been arrested for allegedly molesting his grandson. The state plans to present the case to a grand jury and that could lead to his own execution if he’s charged and convicted under that law."

Florida passed a law in 2023 that allows the death penalty for defendants convicted of sexual battery on a child under 12, and sources with knowledge of the allegations told the Miami Herald that Caruso's alleged victim was younger than 5 years old.

Caruso, who had been running unopposed in Tuesday's Republican primary, was arrested that same morning on suspicion of molestation, kidnapping, luring and enticing a child, lewd and lascivious exhibition and child abuse, according to an arrest affidavit.

The charges are related to three separate incidents, the Herald reported, and the boy's parents reported their suspicions to law enforcement after the little boy acted out sexually at home.

The Florida law calling for the death penalty for pedophiles is intended in part to challenge the 2008 Supreme Court precedent in Kennedy v. Louisiana, which found that execution was too harsh for a child sexual assault case that did not result in death.

The governor's office declared an intention to challenge that precedent after DeSantis signed the bill into law.

Caruso was previously accused of child sexual abuse, but investigators later determined those allegations to be unfounded after interviewing the child and the child's mother.

He was also the subject of other reports to the Florida Department of Children and Families, according to records, but details about those cases are not public.

Caruso had served two terms in the Florida legislature, easily winning both elections, but he left that term-limited seat in August 2025 when the governor appointed him Palm Beach County’s Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller.

A Democrat ultimately won the seat he vacated in the Palm Beach district, which includes the president's home at Mar-a-Lago, in a March special election.

A former Florida House member whom Gov. Ron DeSantis had appointed as Palm Beach County's clerk of courts and comptroller was arrested early Tuesday on allegations of molesting and kidnapping a child.

Michael Allen Caruso, a 67-year-old Republican running for re-election in November but unopposed in Tuesday's primary, was booked that same day into the Palm Beach County jail on suspicion of molestation, kidnapping, luring and enticing a child, lewd and lascivious exhibition, and child abuse, according to his arrest affidavit, reported the Miami Herald.

Hours later, DeSantis issued an executive order suspending Caruso from office, using his authority to remove elected officials accused of crimes. "Being in a position of public trust provides no shield from accountability," Attorney General James Uthmeier said in a statement.

According to an Orange County Sheriff's Office report obtained by the Miami Herald, Caruso is accused of molesting the child on multiple occasions last year, including during a family gathering and again aboard a cruise ship.

Anonymous sources with knowledge of the FDLE investigation told the Herald the victim was a boy younger than 5. The child later began acting out sexually at home, prompting his parents to alert law enforcement.

This is not the first time Caruso has faced child sex abuse allegations. In a January 2013 divorce filing, Caruso himself revealed that his first wife, Beverly Caruso, had previously accused him of sexually assaulting a child — which he called a "false sexual abuse case" that he claimed she had orchestrated.

A related Delray Beach police and DCF investigation in December 2012 deemed the allegation unfounded after the child and other witnesses denied any abuse. Records show Caruso has also been the subject of other, undisclosed reports to DCF.

Caruso was elected to the Florida House in 2018, the same year DeSantis became governor, and built a close relationship with him, notably backing DeSantis on immigration legislation opposed by other House Republicans. DeSantis called him a "legend" and appointed him clerk of courts in August 2025 as he faced term limits. The job pays roughly $219,000 annually and oversees an $80.1 million budget and 670 employees.

Caruso's current wife, Tracy Stein Caruso, holds two DeSantis-appointed roles and awaits Senate confirmation for a third, on the Palm Beach State College Board of Trustees. Neither she nor Beverly Caruso responded to requests for comment.

Divorce records also describe a 2009 incident in which Beverly Caruso, his wife of 31 years, called 911 alleging he was drunk, speeding on I-95 and threatening her, and she disputed a 2012 claim that she had physically attacked him.

A judge denied both her protective injunction and his later restraining order request. Their divorce was finalized in 2014.

Caruso, who is an accountant by profession, coached Little League baseball for 30 years and volunteered for the Boy Scouts for eight years, and he was also a member of the Delray Beach Police Advisory Board.

White House communications director Steven Cheung provided a characteristically scenery-chewing response to Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), and a former Republican insider shed light on his antics.

The Georgia Democrat kicked off a political firestorm by highlighting rumors about President Donald Trump and his close personal aide Natalie Harp, and the White House issued an official response through Cheung that rudely misspelled Ossoff's name and casually mixed in sexual innuendo.

"[Ossoff] has to be the biggest cuck loser in politics," Cheung posted on X. "Instead of denigrating hard working people serving their country, Jon should look deep into his soul and ask himself why he's a miserable person who hates this country. It's because he's a radical, extremist Dumocrat."

Cheung's vulgarity startled many observers, who also noted that Ossoff seemed to have struck a nerve by mentioning Harp, but former Trump staffer Sofia Kinzinger offered an explanation for his over-the-top response.

"Let me explain, because this is honestly sad to witness," said Kinzinger, the wife of former GOP congressman Adam Kinzinger and a former director of strategic media for then-Vice President Mike Pence.

Kinzinger explained that Cheung, who previously headed up communications for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, had to mount a forceful defense of the 35-year-old Harp – derisively nicknamed the "human printer" by colleagues – because she controls the flow of information to the president.

"Steven believes he has to respond so fiercely because he depends on her for that 'atta boy' from the President," Kinzinger said. "She’s the one who gives him credit and makes sure his work gets noticed — because on its own, it’s apparently not enough to get the President’s attention."

"Believe me, the Trump White House really is this pathetic," she added.

Military families spoke out against President Donald Trump's remarks about their loved ones serving a record-long deployment as part of his war against Iran.

Lincoln's crew has endured roughly nine months at sea – a modern-day record – amid reported mental health strain and supply disruptions, and Military Times correspondent Natalie Oliveria told "CNN News Central" that the sailors' families were disappointed when the president stated their deployment was "not nearly long enough."

"One military spouse told me last night that it is infuriating to hear the commander in chief speak about our service members," Oliveria said. "This way the ships are not intended to seamlessly run that long without extreme maintenance every single day, and the sailors that keep that ship going need the same maintenance every day, too."

"Families are feeling a loss of confidence," she added. "They are looking for reassurance in a really vulnerable time, and leadership seems to be really short on compassion. That is the missing piece to this puzzle. You can have as many visits to the Lincoln as you want, you can say the wonderful job that the sailors are doing because they are. They are maintaining, but how much longer can they maintain? We are riding on the resilience of our sailors, assuming that it's open-ended, it's a bottomless supply of resilience. But how much longer can that be sustainable?"

The USS George Washington is leaving Japan for the Middle East to relieve the Lincoln, leaving the U.S. without an aircraft carrier in the western Pacific just as North Korea tests missiles and China watches for openings near Taiwan and Japan.

"To move another carrier strike group from the western Pacific near China, to reroute them to the Middle East is not a small thing," Oliveria said. "It's not a tap-and-go. There is a process to a change of command, especially under deployment."

"So this is a really big deal," she added. "We're currently not present in the western Pacific right now, which is also a really big deal, and I am not sure how the Navy will respond, but I know that families everywhere and the George Washington battle group and the USS Abraham Lincoln battle group are constantly cued in to the news, to each other, trying to make sense of what's going on, trying to stay afloat, of what they need to tell their kids, and trying to show up to work in the morning, trying to keep it going day after day, while hearing that there's mental health crises, that there's bad food, that there's no showers, that the toilets are broken."

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