Trump delaying Clayton nomination in voting bill push
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President Trump announced on Wednesday morning that he is pausing the confirmation process for federal prosecutor Jay Clayton’s nomination to be Director of National Intelligence (DNI) until Congress approves the nation’s warrantless spy powers and a voter ID bill. The president nominated Clayton to appease concerns from lawmakers that acting DNI Bill Pulte did not…
President Donald Trump's status as a kingmaker in Republican primaries got a setback on Tuesday, as Georgia GOP voters rejected his choice for the governor's race.Businessman Rick Jackson, defeated Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who had Trump's endorsement as well as the endorsement of outgoing Gov. Brian Kemp, according to the Associated Press and CNN.Jones is well known for being one of the "fake electors" in the 2020 scheme to overturn former President Joe Biden's electoral win. He managed to avoid criminal charges in the ensuing investigation.The governor primary in Georgia was one of the notable displays of unity between Trump and Kemp, who have had an on-again/off-again rocky relationship after he and other GOP state officials refused to intervene on his behalf to overturn the 2020 election results.On the Democratic side, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is hoping to break years of solid Republican rule in the state.
President Trump delayed Jay Clayton's nomination to lead the U.S. intelligence community, saying he's trying to force Congress to pass a voter ID bill that currently lacks enough support to be approved.
President Donald Trump appears to once again be using the government to go after a top Democratic presidential contender, but according to a new piece from The Hill, he might have actually given one of his biggest enemies a massive "political gift."Earlier this week, Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor of California, revealed that the Trump Justice Department had launched an investigation into him and his wife, claiming that it was an attempt to fabricate a case against him because of his plans to consider a run for president in 2028. Reports from MS NOW later backed this up, with sources claiming that prosecutors in California had been pressured to "come up with a case" against the governor.This development would appear to mirror efforts to similarly target top Democratic presidential hopefuls that Trump undertook in his first term. Trump infamously attempted to extort the Ukrainian government for dirt on Joe Biden and his family in 2019, which ultimately led to his first impeachment the following year.That effort did little to stop Biden from winning the 2020 election, and now, according to a new piece from The Hill's Amie Parnes, Trump might also now be creating a "political opening" for Newsom. The governor has been viewed by many as one of, if not the top, Democratic 2028 contender, given his outspoken criticism and trolling of Trump during his second term."An investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) could have put California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on defense. Instead, it is giving Newsom, seen as a leading Democratic White House contender in 2028, a new political opening," Parnes wrote. "Newsom is embracing the DOJ investigation, using the confrontation with President Trump to raise his national profile and cement his role as one of the president’s lead rivals ahead of a probable White House bid."“By targeting Newsom, Trump just elevates his standing among Democrats, and, ironically, being singled out by the president makes Newsom appear more presidential-level himself,” California-based Democratic consultant Garry South, who previously advised Newsom, told Parnes. “And Newsom will play it to the hilt. He understands when he’s been given a gift.”Another Democratic strategist, Rodell Mollineau, told Parnes that the investigation has elevated Newsom as a 2028 hopeful, given that it signals Trump and Vice President JD Vance's concern about his ability to defeat them. "It demonstrates that Trump and Vice President Vance are concerned about his ability to take them on in 2028," the strategist said.Another strategist, speaking anonymously, summed up why Newsom has been getting to Trump enough to prompt such a move as this.“He’s become the one to beat,” they said. “And it’s for one reason only: He’s getting in Trump’s face constantly.”
President Donald Trump spoke at the G7 on Wednesday about the memorandum of understanding (MOU) that his administration developed with Iran to end the war. Among the most perplexing things the president said was that the markets love the MOU, and if he doesn't like the final agreement, "we'll just start bombing again." He continued to refuse to hand out text of the agreement, but said that among the things in the agreement is that, for now, the Strait of Hormuz will be open "toll-free beyond the 60 days" and that Iran will "never" have a nuclear weapon. Trump promised Americans would see prices go down because the Strait will reopen without tolls. "Oil is at 73 or 74 and it's getting to very close to where it was before the crisis," Trump claimed. "The difference is now we have Iran without a nuclear weapon. So, we'll see how that all plays out. I think people are going to be very happy. But there's nothing so smart as the market and the market loves it beyond anything that I've actually seen."Third, Trump claimed "stupid people" and Democrats want the war to continue. In reality, there are plenty of people on the right who are displeased with the current outcome of the war."The alternative would be a worldwide depression. You know, the stupid people want to have a worldwide depression. And the stupid people, so you can only go so far," Trump said. "You could drive somebody into the ground and a lot of bad things happen. Number one, the Strait would never open because, uh, they don't like floating billion-dollar ships up and down a strait when there's rockets flying over them and mines all over the place. So the Strait would never be open. It wouldn't be open for a long time."Fourth, Trump claimed that the "affordability crisis" was caused by Democrats. He then said Democrats "caused affordability" and then that affordability is "just another con job. They made up the word affordability."Another bizarre comment from Trump was relitigating the 2020 election while in a bilateral meeting with the President of Egypt. "Uh, a dam was built in Ethiopia, and it's causing tremendous problems for Egypt, and I'm very aware. I had that deal settled, and then we had a rigged election, and somebody came in, and they didn't know too much about that deal. They were not going to settle anything. But but we'll get back into it. We'll see if we can settle it. Okay," Trump said. In 2020, Trump said that the U.S. would simply "blow up the dam." Critics at the time blamed Trump for escalating the tensions. Trump claimed that he "saved a big war" and demanded a Nobel Peace Prize, the BBC reported at the time. On Wednesday, he claimed that former President Joe Biden messed up the whole thing. Finally, Trump repeated his debunked claim that former President Barack Obama "handed [Iran] a billion seven in cash. Gave them ... billions and billions of dollars, but he gave them $1.7 billion dollars in cash, green cash from banks, into a Boeing 757 and flew it into Iran," Trump claimed. In fact, the U.S. simply gave Iran access to its money that had been tied up in banks as a result of the sanctions. Part of the JCPOA was allowing Iran to have access to it's own money again.
The EEOC is moving to rescind a rule that has stood in the way of its politicized attacks alleging discrimination against white men.
The post Trump Admin Wants to Make It Easier for White Men to Sue for Discrimination appeared first on The Intercept.
Donald Trump had a team of recruiters roaming Trump Tower searching for women for him to have sex with, according to an explosive FBI interview buried in the Epstein files.In a 2021 interview, a woman told agents she was approached in the 1990s as she sat in the public atrium at the base of the Fifth Avenue skyscraper in New York City.Two men asked her if she wanted to meet Trump, the report stated, adding, “The man winked and said [Trump] could do whatever she liked."[She] felt that it was clear that sex was on the table, even though the man never mentioned sex. [She] felt these men were playing the role of recruiters for Trump.“The man told her that if she did not want to meet Trump right then, she could go to a party. The man told her that she could bring a friend if the friend looked like her, but she could not bring a guy.“The invitation was in or around 1990/1991 and the invitation had Jeffrey Epstein’s address on it.”The woman, whose name was redacted throughout the filing, contacted a law firm several years later as Epstein’s sex crimes became public knowledge and after watching a 60 Minutes report about Trump’s relationship with adult movie star Stormy Daniels, which resulted in him being found guilty of 34 felony counts related to a hush money payment. That law firm directed her to contact the FBI, the filing stated.The record of the interview was buried within millions of documents released by Trump's Department of Justice in the Epstein Files. Lying in an FBI interview is a federal crime.During the 1990s and 2000s, Trump and Epstein socialized together in the New York City and Palm Beach circles. Epstein was arrested in 2006 after he was accused of molesting multiple underage girls. He pleaded guilty to two prostitution charges under a controversial plea deal and was sentenced to 18 months in a minimum security facility — which he was allowed to leave for 12 hours a day.In 2019, he was arrested again on federal sex trafficking crimes. He was found dead in his jail cell in New York City later that year.The woman told agents that she was a student taking night classes in the early 1990s, and spent her days working at the luxury French shoe boutique Charles Jourdan, which had a flagship store inside Trump Tower. She would study during her lunch break at a table in the public atrium.The lower four floors of Trump Tower — at the top of which is nestled the now-president's three-story penthouse home — are lined with upscale stores, cafes and restaurants, and include public seating areas and an 80-foot indoor waterfall. Trump was required to give public access as part of a deal with the city. In exchange, he was allowed to make his tower taller than zoning normally allowed.The woman, who was in her 20s at the time, said it was during one of these lunch breaks that she first saw the men she called Trump's “recruiters.”“[She] met a colleague and he pointed out two men in their early 30s,” the FBI report stated. “[She] described one of the men was dark haired and looked like Antonio Banderas, while the other man was blonde and looked like the surfer type. Her colleague told her that the men constantly picked up [redacted] women.”Shortly after, the woman said, they approached her.“He asked her if she knew who Donald Trump was and told her he was meeting people that day,” the FBI report stated, referring to one of the men.“... [She] told the man that she knew who Trump was. The man asked if she wanted to meet Trump and told her that she did not need to work so hard to go to school. The man winked.”The student told the FBI that she declined the invitations, both to meet Trump and to go to the party. After that, she started to get threats, she said.“[She] said that she received death threats when she did not want to go meet Trump. The threats consisted of the men saying that they knew where she worked and could find her. [She] never told the police because she did not think they would believe her.”She also described watching the same men approach other women in the following six months. “[She] saw girls, usually blondes, approximately 15/16 years old with one of the two men and them get on an escalator. [She] never saw any females meet with Trump.”In a dark twist, she told FBI agents that she knew a woman who said that her daughter had been waiting to meet her at Trump Tower, and had been persuaded to go upstairs with the recruiters.“This was in the early 1990s. [The student] recalled sometime later seeing [redacted] at a cocktail party and the woman said something horrible happened to her daughter that day. The daughter had dropped out of school, got into drugs and committed suicide.”Trump has not been charged with any crime following the woman's interview with the FBI. He has not been formally accused of any wrongdoing in connection with the Epstein Files, in which he is mentioned thousands of times.
While the Senate had planned to confirm Jay Clayton as the new Director of National Intelligence (DNI) as soon as Wednesday, President Donald Trump derailed those plans overnight after announcing he was “cancelling” the confirmation hearing, thereby creating a “disaster” and “living hell” for Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), some journalists said.“It’s almost as if Trump wakes up every day and thinks to himself, ‘How can I make John Thune’s life a living hell?’” noted Punchbowl News senior congressional reporter Andrew Desiderio in a social media post on X.In an early morning statement published Wednesday on Truth Social, Trump said he would be keeping Bill Pulte – his initial controversial pick for DNI he ultimately backed off from after receiving unprecedented bipartisan backlash – as acting DNI for the foreseeable future. He also demanded that the SAVE Act – his controversial voter ID law – be attached to the renewal of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a law that permits the overseas surveillance of Americans in some instances.“It's almost as if this was going too well for Trump,” noted Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman in a social media post on X. “Republicans and Democrats were gearing up to confirm Clayton as soon as tomorrow.”Trump also raged against Republicans regarding several other topics, including their refusal to eliminate the filibuster and blue slips, a process that allows senators to block judicial appointments in their own state.“Trump is attacking [Senate Majority Leader John] Thune (R-SD) and top Senate Republicans – without naming them – over the Clayton-Pulte dispute,” Punchbowl News’ report reads. “He’s putting pressure on Thune once again over eliminating the filibuster and blue slips for judicial nominations, two hallowed Senate traditions. He’s forcing the SAVE America Act – the Republicans’ photo ID and proof-of-citizenship bill – to the forefront of the Senate legislative agenda, even though there’s no way it can pass. All this is a disaster for Thune.”It’s almost as if Trump wakes up every day and thinks to himself, “How can I make John Thune’s life a living hell?”The president just blew up Jay Clayton’s confirmation hearing for DNI (was slated for 2pm today) & reiterated his demand for SAVE to be attached to FISA. pic.twitter.com/YVSRvYFpnc— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) June 17, 2026
President Donald Trump championed the memorandum of understanding with Iran during a bilateral meeting with President Abdel Fattah el Sisi of Egypt at the Group of Seven summit, though he conceded the details of the deal remain unknown to the wider public. “It’s a very strong deal,” said Trump, speaking in Evian, France, where the […]
