Iran's control of the Strait of Hormuz inflicted global pain during the months-long conflict with the U.S. and Israel. A tentative deal is in place, but questions remain about the key waterway.
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.
Move will allow Trump’s controversial pick, Bill Pulte, to assume role and remain in place for at least several weeksSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailDonald Trump abruptly halted the confirmation process for Jay Clayton as the US’s top intelligence chief early Wednesday, in a move that will allow Trump’s controversial selection for acting director of national security, Bill Pulte, to assume the role and remain in place for at least several weeks until Clayton is confirmed.Trump pushed the Senate to confirm Clayton after his appointment of Pulte as acting director sparked bipartisan pushback and stalled his administration’s push for renewal of the controversial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa). Continue reading...
The following is a lightly edited transcript of the June 17 episode of the Daily Blast podcast. Listen to it here.Greg Sargent: This is The Daily Blast from The New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network. I’m your host, Greg Sargent.JD Vance is having a moment. He’s selling his new book and he just appeared on The View, where the hosts worked him over pretty hard. In a telling exchange, Vance found himself defending Trump in the context of the Iran war in a way that will come back to bite him later. Indeed, there are several other signs that Trump world is setting up Vance to take the eventual fall on Iran in a number of different ways. New leaks from inside the administration are making Trump’s Iran deal look even worse, and they’re also shedding light on what this shivving of Vance really entails.We’re talking about it all with one of the best observers out there of the intersection between politics and culture, New Republic contributing editor Virginia Heffernan. Hey, Virginia, always nice to have you on.Virginia Heffernan: Hey, Greg, same here. I like being on the show.Sargent: Well, we like that. So let’s start with JD Vance’s appearance on The View. He took a hammering on a number of fronts. I want to highlight one exchange, though. They’re talking about inflation. JD says, we’re doing all we can. Then one of the hosts points out that Trump recently said, I love the inflation. Listen to this.JD Vance (voiceover): We’re doing a lot to make it better. It’s going to take a little bit of time. There’s a lot more work to do. But the president knows that a lot of Americans are struggling. In fact, he ran on that, he talked about it, and we’ve done some things and made some good progress on that point.Host (voiceover): He just said he loves the inflation.Vance (voiceover): What he said, Anna, what he said is that he loves the fact that the inflation is going to come down when this war is over. That’s what he said.Joy Behar (voiceover): Are you his—wait, are you his interpreter or are you his vice president?Vance (voiceover): Well, look, look—what the president said, people were asking about the inflation, they were asking about the affordability problem, which again is very real. And what he said is, I love the inflation because it’s going to come down when the war is over.Sargent: So Joy Behar got a good dig in there saying that Vance is just functioning basically as Trump’s propagandist and not leveling with people, although she said it in a way that kind of kept it light. Virginia, what did you make of the exchange?Heffernan: Well, I mean, I think—I don’t know, do people still say mogged? I do think that JD Vance got mogged by the women of The View. They were all on top of him. I know he had said on Fox News the day before, or maybe earlier this morning, that he was trying to prepare for a civil conversation, but he knew he was going into the lion’s den.The inflation question is going to be really interesting to View viewers, right? JD Vance has this book come out about his Christian faith, about his Catholic faith, and he really wants everyone to focus on his religious journey because he believes that he can bond with the suburban women who sometimes lean Republican, especially on issues like crime, and he might get to them by The View, right? So he wasn’t going into the lion’s den for no reason. He was going into it to promote a book. And indeed they gave the QR code so you could buy the book at the end. They did their part. And they gave him a onesie for his forthcoming newborn that says The View on it. But—Sargent: Yeah, I have to ask—do you think that JD Vance and Usha are going to put that onesie on their baby?Heffernan: I was wondering about that. I thought, maybe that’s just another mogg moment. Like, we’ll brand your baby with The View. I mean, we don’t want to get too symbolic about it, but there was a lot going on and it’s a lot to watch.And Whoopi and some of the other hosts of color were especially incensed and didn’t give any ground. And there was something satisfying about seeing that because we’ve seen Trump attack so many women over and over again in interviews, walk out of interviews, call women nasty, call them piggy, call them whatever. And so just saying, we’re not really going to entertain the idea that there’s a kumbaya here with you, and making it very clear with their expressions that they weren’t going to entertain it.Sargent: JD was really on his best behavior, though. We should point that out. Now, what do you think of the inflation exchange? Because I want to clarify for people that the inflation exchange is really about inflation from the war. That’s what Trump was talking about when he said, I love the inflation. And it kind of maneuvered Vance into a position where he was essentially forced to defend what Trump said there.
President Donald Trump says he is canceling a scheduled hearing Wednesday for his nominee to serve as director of national intelligence, saying that Republican lawmakers fell into a legislative "trap."The 80-year-old president announced on Truth Social at 3:54 a.m. EST that he would not allow the hearings to proceed for DNI nominee Jay Clayton, currently serving as Manhattan U.S. attorney, until the Senate confirmed his replacement as federal prosecutor in New York City.“The Republicans agreed with Dumocrats to remove very fair, and talented, William Pulte, from serving as Acting DNI in return for getting FISA approved by the Dumocrats," Trump posted. "However, the Republicans moved so fast with the hearings of the Great Jay Clayton, current U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, that Pulte would be gone before the Dumocrats would vote on FISA."“Now, the Dumocrats are saying they will vote against FISA — So, the Republicans wound up having fulfilled their commitment, but Dumocrats broke the Deal,” he added.It's not clear what Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, thinks of Trump announcing the 2 p.m. hearing has been canceled, which would typically be the panel chair's decision and not the president's."I don’t want to take Jay Clayton away from the great job he is doing until Jamie is in place," Trump posted. "Therefore, to add a slight bit of intrigue but, for the Good of the Nation, and the People of our Country, I will not approve FISA without THE SAVE AMERICA ACT going along with it.""Not complicated, actually, the Republicans fell into a trap," he added. "Regarding the approval of our Great Patriot, Jay Clayton, we are cancelling the Senate Hearing RE: DNI today, and will not be going forward until Jamie McDonald is approved to be U.S. Attorney. In the meantime, Bill Pulte will remain as the Acting Director of National Intelligence. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"Pulte had immediately drawn bipartisan criticism as lacking minimal qualifications when he was tapped to succeed Tulsi Gabbard as DNI, and he had been slated to start as acting director on Friday.Democrats had refused to put up the votes necessary to an extension of the key foreign surveillance program.
Vice President JD Vance is becoming the face of a fragile deal to wind down the war in Iran, an assignment that could help or hurt his 2028 aspirations depending on how the public receives his messaging blitz. The vice president has been the White House’s top messenger since late last week, when President Donald […]
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he was delaying Jay Clayton’s nomination to lead the U.S. intelligence community in a bid to force Congress to act on a voter ID bill that currently lacks enough support for passage
President Trump nominated Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, after senators from both parties condemned an earlier decision to appoint Bill Pulte.
President Donald Trump pressured Senate Republicans to delay confirming Jay Clayton as his next intelligence director, throwing a wrench into leaders’ plans to quickly install him before loyalist Bill Pulte could take the position on an acting basis.