World

Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, announced his resignation on X Tuesday by saying he “cannot in good conscience” back Donald Trump’s war in Iran. It delivered a jolt to the administration that is already reeling from a war that is going badly.

According to Kent, Iran “posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”

Donald Trump's most loyal Iran war hawks are experiencing buyer's remorse as what they envisioned as a quick military victory threatens to metastasize into a prolonged, unpopular quagmire requiring American boots on the ground, according to a report.

More than two weeks into the campaign, insiders close to the White House are sounding the alarm — the president has lost control of the conflict's trajectory, Politico reported. Iran now holds the upper hand, they warn, and Trump may have boxed himself into a corner where escalation — potentially including a full ground invasion — becomes the only face-saving option.

President Donald Trump issued a baffling statement after the World Baseball Classic (WBC) semifinal game on Monday night.

Venezuela and Italy faced off in the WBC semifinal, with Venezuela besting the Italians 4-2. After the game, Trump took to Truth Social to express his pleasure with the outcome.

President Donald Trump's call for reinforcements to open the Strait of Hormuz just created the "worst of all possible worlds," according to one analyst.

On Monday, Trump made several contradictory statements about whether the U.S. needs other countries to help it open the Strait of Hormuz, which accounts of 20% of all global energy trade. The Iranian regime has effectively closed the Strait to the U.S. and Israeli ships in retaliation for the two countries' conducting a coordinated bombing campaign in Iran that began in late February.

Political analysts and observers were stunned on Monday after President Donald Trump casually dropped a threat to start a new war during a press conference in the Oval Office.

During an exchange with Peter Doocy of Fox News, Trump said he will take Cuba "in some form" at some point during his presidency.

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes announced he was "no longer MAGA," even though he was headed to Mar-a-Lago on Friday to ask President Donald Trump for a pardon.

While guest-hosting for conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Monday, Rhodes revealed that he had broken with Trump over the war in Iran.

Charlie Kirk Show hosts Blake Neff and Andrew Kolvet pressed for the defeat of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), an ally of President Donald Trump, by hosting his two opponents, Paul Davis and Mark Lynch.

"I have been very loud about my criticisms of Sen. Lindsey Graham, the neocon warmonger from South Carolina, who has just seemed to stay in office for a very long time," Kolvet said on Monday's broadcast. "Charlie Kirk — Charlie always called him Lady Graham, as he called it... I'm pretty sure that's what a lot of people call him."

Disgraced crypto executive Sam Bankman-Fried is betting that Trump's well-documented willingness to pardon allies who lavish praise on his administration will extend to him, even as influential Republicans urge the president to reject his bid for freedom.

Bankman-Fried, 32, is currently serving a 25-year sentence handed down in March 2024 for orchestrating a multibillion-dollar fraud scheme through his now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

According to Politico, the jailed executive's legal team is aggressively lobbying Trump and his crypto-friendly inner circle for a pardon — a move that's already drawing pushback from Republicans who built their political brands on cryptocurrency advocacy.

"The guy's a piece of s--t," said Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH), a longtime crypto enthusiast who has championed industry-friendly legislation. "The guy shouldn't be pardoned. The guy should go to jail for a long, long time."

From behind bars, Bankman-Fried has mounted a calculated charm offensive on X. His account has lauded the Trump administration's drug pricing initiative, praised Trump's economic stewardship, and positioned the president as crypto's savior. He's also given a jailhouse interview to Tucker Carlson, where he blamed his conviction on "Biden's lawfare machine," drawing a parallel to the federal indictments Trump faced after leaving office.

"I hope the president doesn't fall for that," said Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a Wyoming Republican known as the Senate's "crypto queen." "He hurt a lot of people. He should have to spend some time contemplating that."

Rep. Mike Flood of Nebraska, a rising Republican voice on the House Financial Services Committee, expressed disbelief at the brazenness of Bankman-Fried's pardon campaign.

"He crashed the car, man. He engaged in massive fraud," he said. "Wall Street's not needing him back to fix any problems. He helped us identify a problem by committing a massive amount of fraud — and we rewarded him with a long stay in a federal prison."

Trump has already demonstrated a willingness to pardon controversial crypto figures. He granted clemency to Changpeng Zhao, former CEO of the crypto exchange Binance, who pleaded guilty in 2023 to money laundering-related charges.

President Donald Trump announced that he had "essentially" won the war against Iran and complained that it was "unfair" for the country to close its Strait of Hormuz after the so-called victory.

During a press conference on Monday, Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy asked Trump why he could not immediately open the Strait.