Trump administration downplays deaths of U.S. servicemen
During a briefing at the Pentagon Wednesday, Defense Secretary Hegseth criticized the media for reporting the deaths of the six U.S. servicemen killed to that point in the Iran war. Hegseth alleged that the news media was focusing too much on the dead soldiers in an effort to make Donald Trump “look bad.” Hegseth said. “I get it; the press only wants to make the president look bad. But try for once to report the reality.” Right after Hegseth spoke, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine spoke and his first order of business was memorializing the deaths of those troops. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt tried to clean it up Wednesday by denying that Hegseth said what he said.
Some stranded passengers are getting out of the Middle East
Stranded passengers in the Middle East are starting to leave the region as airlines schedule new routes and governments rally charter flights. The first U.S.-facilitated charter flight carrying Americans departed on Wednesday, with more expected in the coming days. Thousands of people have also left on commercial flights from major transit hubs in the United Arab Emirates. However, the situation remains fluid as the conflict continues to widen — with the U.S. sinking an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka and NATO forces intercepting an Iranian missile headed for Turkey.
Republicans reject war powers resolution
Republican senators rejected a war powers resolution on Wednesday that would have required the Trump administration to seek congressional approval before continuing military action against Iran. This comes as Democrats have criticized President Trump for expanding U.S. military involvement in the country without approval from Congress. The vote was 53 to 47, with Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul joining Democrats in voting to advance the resolution. Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania joined Republicans to vote against it. The House was to vote on the issue today with House Speaker Johnson predicting it would fail.
White House ballroom approval
Donald Trump’s massive East Wing ballroom project is poised to get its final approval from a government commission that oversees planning for federal buildings and land in the nation’s capital. Trump has fired members of the commission and appointed his own loyalists. The commission received more than 32,000 public comments overwhelmingly opposing the construction. The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) was expected to rubber stamp Trump’s plans for the ballroom, marking the latest clearance for the project in a process that has been on a fast track since Trump suddenly demolished the East Wing last October. Approval by the NCPC would mean that any further attempt to halt construction would require intervention from the courts.
Pirro drops autopen case
Washington, D.C., U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro has quietly dropped her efforts to bring a case against Former President Joe Biden for the use of an autopen to sign documents while he was in office. Donald Trump had alleged that much of Biden did was illegal because the autopen was used to sign documents. However, Trump’s White House also has used the autopen device to sign some documents rather than having Trump sign by hand. Investigators in Pirro’s office found no evidence of illegality by the Biden White House and she was forced to drop the case that Trump wanted.
Move to force Bondi to testify
The House Oversight Committee has voted to subpoena U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify about the Epstein files. Five Republicans joined with the Democrats on the committee in the vote to subpoena Bondi. Rep. Robert Garcia, who is the ranking Democrat on the committee, said that Bondi has been instrumental in orchestrating the Trump administration cover-up of the Epstein files. He accused her of failing to comply with the law requiring release of all of the files. Bondi’s Department of Justice recently has come under fire for failing to release FBI documents covering interviews with a woman who alleged Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein raped her when she was an underage teenager.
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