Well, This Should Be Interesting….

Well, Well, Well... Look What the Coast Guard Dragged In

Senate postpones hearing for DNI nominee Clayton after Trump tells him not to show up

A confirmation hearing for Jay Clayton, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the next director of national intelligence, was abruptly postponed after the president said he was “cancelling it” over political disagreements with Democrats. NBC News' Melanie Zanona reports on how pulling the nomination could affect the re-authorization of FISA.

Gavin Newsom solicited $340M in ‘behested payments’ from special interests, filings reveal

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proactive defense in the face of multiple federal investigations — the governor is accusing President Trump of lawfare and rampant corruption — is starting to draw pushback, as the California leader’s own record has frequently raised questions of pay to play.

Fed holds US interest rates steady as uncertainty over Trump's Iran deal remains

The Federal Reserve held rates between 3.5% and 3.75% after Kevin Warsh's first meeting in charge of the central bank.

Senate moving forward with Clayton hearing despite Trump move to delay

The Senate is moving forward with Jay Clayton's confirmation hearing on Wednesday, despite President Trump's move to delay the installation of the new intelligence chief.

'He is not well': Onlookers say Trump's 'profane' Obama jab reveals president's jealousy

President Donald Trump startled onlookers with a profane outburst when he was asked about former President Barack Obama's nuclear agreement with Iran.The 80-year-old Trump has been fixated on proving the agreement to end his war in Iran is stronger than the Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – which he withdrew from in May 2018, during his first term – and he blew up Wednesday morning when asked about the comparison at the G7 summit."Nobody could've made this deal," Trump groused. "The JCPOA done by Obama … he gave them $1.7 billion in cash — green cash, from banks — into a Boeing 757 and flew it into Iran. He tried to bribe his way out. I didn't do that .… and you know what the Iranians did? They laughed at Obama and they said he's a stupid son of a b----."Trump's flare-up – which came as he was seated with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in France – alarmed many who saw his comments on social media."He is not well," sighed journalist Juliet Jeske, who runs the "Decoding Fox News" account."Iran literally brought in a team of psychologists to help during negotiations because of how erratic and unhinged Trump is lol," recalled the popular "Good Politics Guy" account."A vulgar and profane serial liar," sneered veteran journalist Alan Friedman."Obama's JCPOA prevented Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons without any loss of life or billions spent on a needless war," observed political scientist and former diplomat Michael McFaul."‘Unlike MY deal…which is SO amazing that I still refuse to show anyone the details!’" joked filmmaker Andy Ostroy."It took us 20 years to lose in Vietnam. This dumb--- did it in 100 days," argued Army veteran Bruce Crossing."Trump is tormented by jealousy of a superior human being," opined veteran journalist John Harwood. "Obama's superiority, as a president and a person, hurts Trump especially badly because he's a huge racist and Obama is black.""Trump is just writing the jokes for Late Night comedy himself," offered author and lecturer Andreas Krieg."He’s so jealous of Obama opening his spectacular Obama Center tomorrow," said the popular X user Susan in Delaware. "He’s obsessed with him. But this is awful on the global stage.""Trump is always projecting. ALWAYS," marveled activist and pundit Tara Setmayer.

GOP committee chair barreling ahead with hearing for DNI pick despite Trump blowing up nomination process

Republican Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton announced Wednesday that U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton’s confirmation hearing to be the next director of […]

Trump Blows Up His Own Nominee’s Hearing Over Conspiracy Theory

The president just scrambled the last week of negotiations in Congress to abet his dead voter ID bill.Donald Trump cancelled the Senate confirmation hearing for Jay Clayton via a Truth Social post Wednesday, just hours before it was set to take place. Trump had tapped Clayton earlier this month to run the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, in place of acting Director Bill Pulte. Democrats had argued that even temporarily appointing Pulte, a housing regulator, was illegal, since he had no national security experience to bring to the job. (For the record, neither does Clayton.)As a result, Democrats completely stalled negotiations over FISA Section 702, a statute that allows federal agencies such as the NSA and the CIA to surveil foreigners on U.S. soil without warrants. But even without Pulte’s name in the mix, negotiations had stalled over the FISA section as both chambers failed to pass an extension.And Trump has undoubtedly only made matters worse by involving himself in the process. In a lengthy rant Wednesday, Trump baselessly lamented that Republicans had advanced Clayton’s nomination without any concrete assurances from Democrats. He then hitched the FISA section’s renewal onto his Save America Act, which Republicans have warned him dozens of times has no chance of passing the Senate. That legislation hinges on Trump’s conspiracy theory that noncitizens are voting (against him) in U.S. elections.“Now, the Dumocrats are saying they will vote against FISA—So, the Republicans wound up having fulfilled their commitment, but Dumocrats broke the Deal,” Trump wrote. “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.” The Save America Act sparked nationwide controversy earlier this year, particularly over a detail in the bill that would have made it more difficult for married women to vote. The backlash on Capitol Hill was grave, so much so that it gummed up efforts to fund Homeland Security for several months. Republicans eventually had to bail on the package to end the congressional gridlock.The Save America Act suggests numerous amendments to the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, including line items that would abolish mail-in voting, require voters to bring proof of citizenship and proof of residency to register to vote, require voter ID, and mandate voter roll purges every 30 days, an enormous bureaucratic task that would place undue burdens on local election officials. The measure would also add a federal law to prevent men from competing in women’s sports, and a ban on “transgender mutilation surgery.”Trump noted that the pause on Clayton’s Senate confirmation would also interrupt the rest of the pipeline: in the meantime, Pulte would remain as the acting DNI, while Jamie McDonald—a litigation partner at law firm Sullivan & Cromwell—would wait to replace Clayton as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.