Trump Threatens 100% Tariffs on European Countries Over Digital Services Tax On American Tech Companies

Trump's lawsuit 'backfires': Expert flags 'unintended consequence' exposing president

A defamation lawsuit President Donald Trump filed against the BBC is producing what one observer called an "unintended consequence" — potentially opening the president up to broad discovery about the period surrounding January 6, according to journalist and commentator Aaron Parnas.In his newsletter, the Parnas Perspective, Parnas reported that Trump's $10 billion suit against the British broadcaster appears to be backfiring by giving the BBC an opening to demand records tied to one of the most heavily scrutinized stretches of his presidency.According to new court filings described by Parnas, the BBC is seeking Trump's phone logs, calendars, schedules, diaries, and communications from the period running from around the 2020 election through January 20, 2021. The broadcaster argues that the material is relevant to its defense in the case.Trump's attorneys are pushing back hard, Parnas reported. They have accused the BBC of attempting to use the defamation suit to put January 6 itself on trial, and argue that the discovery demands reach too far.Parnas summed up the irony at the heart of the dispute, noting that a lawsuit Trump brought in pursuit of billions in damages is now exposing him to potentially sweeping discovery about a period he has long sought to keep out of the courts.The dynamic Parnas described is a familiar risk in defamation litigation, where a plaintiff who goes to court seeking damages can find the discovery process turned around to scrutinize his own conduct and communications.It remains to be seen whether the court will grant the BBC's discovery requests or side with Trump's attorneys in narrowing them. For now, as Parnas laid out, the suit has handed the president's legal opponents a potential avenue into records he has fought for years to shield from public view.

Strategist notes evidence Trump admin is in 'transition' amid presidential health issues

Trump has been elevating the role of Vice President JD Vance for a clear reason, according to a political strategist.During a recent podcast episode for The Contrarian, Simon Rosenberg pointed out that recent revelations about Trump's health and Vance's new responsibilities correlate to a plan to prepare the vice president for a transition."Let's just be clear that another example of them potentially preparing for a transition is how much they've elevated Vance in recent weeks," Rosenberg said. "Which is sort of giving him a tryout of the world stage as a symbol of the fact that we could be in the beginning, or they're trying to hedge."Vance was in Switzerland last week to negotiate with Iran on a peace deal. Co-host Katie Phang also pointed to recent reports that Trump had to see 22 specialists during his recent visit to Walter Reed Hospital and that Trump might be the recipient of retatrutide, a powerful weight-loss drug."The White House tried to make it seem like this is a routine thing for a man of his age," Phang said. "I'm sorry, my mom is 83. She doesn't see 22 specialists. Sorry doesn't happen."Phang equated the experimental weight loss drug that Trump may have received to "bariatric weight surgery," and added, "It's that drastic to be able to facilitate weight loss."Rosenberg suggested that if Trump was given access to the drug, it was because "there were very deep concerns about the condition of his heart, and his weight, and that he needed to lose weight rapidly in order to relieve the pressure on his heart, and that he was actually in danger."However, Phang warned, "I don't think a JD Vance has the charisma of a Trump or the cult appeal, but I do think JD Vance could be really bad as president of the United States."Trump's Troubling Health & Mamdani the Kingmaker? by The ContrarianKatie Phang and Simon Rosenberg discuss last night's primary results and the tea leaves around Trump's recent health reportsRead on Substack

Trump-backed Julia Letlow takes victory in Louisiana GOP Senate primary runoff

Trump-endorsed Louisiana Rep. Julia Letlow defeated State Treasurer John Fleming in the state's Senate Republican primary runoff Saturday -- marking the latest display of the president's primary election pull.

Trump-Endorsed U.S. Senate Candidate Win GOP Nomination in Louisiana

Trump scores another endorsement win with Louisiana Senate runoff victory

Trump-backed Rep. Julia Letlow defeats John Fleming in Louisiana's GOP Senate runoff, marking another victory for the president's endorsement power.

Congressman pinpoints alarming election comment Trump made 'out loud': 'Becomes a crime'

Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) warned this week that President Donald Trump has openly acknowledged directing federal prosecutors to investigate elections whose results he dislikes — a statement the congressman argued the president made plainly and even boasted about."Trump just told the country, out loud, that he picks up the phone and orders federal prosecutors to investigate elections when he does not like how the vote is going," Levin wrote, adding that the president "bragged about it twice this week."According to Levin, Trump described calling a U.S. attorney in California, telling the prosecutor to "do me a favor" and look into a race his preferred candidate was at risk of losing.The congressman then laid out why he sees the claim as baseless. There is no evidence of fraud in California's primary, Levin wrote, noting that even Steve Hilton — the Republican candidate Trump claims to have rescued — said he never heard about any such call. Levin added that Los Angeles County's top elections official stated that no one at the Justice Department had touched their process.Levin attributed the slow count not to fraud but to the thoroughness of California's system, where every registered voter is mailed a ballot, every returned ballot has its signature checked against the voter's file, and late-arriving mail ballots remain valid if postmarked by Election Day."Slow is not fraud," he wrote.Levin said he would support responsible, legal efforts to speed up vote counting through better funding and modernized ballot processing. What he would not accept, he argued, is a president investigating his way to a preferred outcome.The congressman tied the behavior back to 2020, writing that because Trump still can't admit he lost that year, "every election he dislikes becomes a crime in his mind." The post was amplified by political scientist Norman Ornstein.

Trump news at a glance: America wins ‘either way’, Vance claims amid shaky ceasefire with Iran

Vice-president JD Vance says US holds all the cards in conflict with Iran – key US politics stories from Saturday 27 JuneHours before fresh military strikes were exchanged in the strait of Hormuz, vice-president JD Vance continued to reiterate the administration’s triumphant line on the war with Iran.“If we make the final deal, then great,” the US vice-president told HBO’s Bill Maher. Continue reading...

'I get it now': Anthony Scaramucci reveals epiphany he had thanks to 'not well' Trump

Anthony Scaramucci, who lasted about eleven days as President Donald Trump's communications director in 2017, says he finally understands a children's story that puzzled him as a boy — thanks to the man he once worked for.In a post shared with his followers, the former White House aide turned vocal Trump critic offered a blunt assessment of the president's fitness, writing that Trump "is not well and he's probably too old for the job." Scaramucci acknowledged the line wasn't "politically correct," but argued it was "probably right."The bulk of his post, however, was less about Trump than about everyone around him. Scaramucci described an administration paralyzed by fear, staffed with people afraid of losing their jobs, afraid of being attacked online, and afraid of being primaried by a challenger Trump himself would select to take them out."That's why we're frozen," he said.Then came the epiphany that gives the post its punch. Scaramucci recalled his first-grade teacher reading the class "The Emperor's New Clothes," the fable in which a vain ruler parades naked while terrified subjects pretend to admire his nonexistent garments. As a child, he found the premise absurd, wondering why anyone would go along with such an obvious lie."I'm 62 now," Scaramucci said. "Now I get it."The implication was hard to miss: in Scaramucci's telling, the people surrounding Trump are the courtiers too frightened to say what they plainly see, and Trump is the emperor convinced of his own splendor.Scaramucci has spent years warning about his former boss, but the fable framing casts the dysfunction less as a policy failure than as a psychological one, sustained by everyone too afraid to point it out.