Trump Calls New York Times “Treasonous” Over Iran War Criticism
https://newrepublic.com/post/212125/trump-new-york-times-treasonous-lawsuit-iran
The president is fuming over media coverage of his war with Iran.
President Donald Trump furiously accused The New York Times of supposedly “treasonous” reporting about his disastrous peace deal with Iran.
In a series of posts on Truth Social Sunday, Trump ranted about the Times after it published an analysis of the president’s war in Iran: “What Changed After Almost 4 Months of War? Analysts Say Not Much.” The article highlighted that Trump’s deal failed to achieve any of his war’s objectives: eliminating Iran’s nuclear program, destroying its ballistic missile stockpile, annihilating Iran’s navy and security infrastructure, and installing a new regime.
The president disagreed.
“Their Military is DONE, their Navy is GONE, their Air Force is GONE, their Launching Pads, Missiles, Drones and Manufacturing of same, is almost GONE, their top two sets of Leaders are GONE, their Inflation is at 250%, their Economy is BROKEN, their Soldiers aren’t being paid, the Hormuz Strait is OPEN, THE OIL IS GUSHING, and the U.S. Stock Market and Jobs are at record HIGHS,” Trump wrote. “That’s what’s CHANGED, you corrupt and unethical cowards, and MORE!!!”
In reality, Iran shuttered trade through Strait of Hormuz yet again over the weekend, citing Israel’s ceasefire violations in Lebanon.
But Trump didn’t care about any of that. Instead, he shared a post by Senator Lindsey Graham, who echoed the president’s claim that the reporting had revealed the outlet’s “bias.”
“The way the Corrupt and Failing New York Times is covering stories on a very battered and beat up Iran, through FAKE & MADE UP ‘FACTS’ is, in my opinion, ‘TREASONOUS,’” Trump wrote in yet another post.
“I will be adding all of their false and ridiculous reporting to my multi Billion Dollar lawsuit against them. They are Criminals!”
In October, Trump refiled an abridged version of his dismissed $15 billion defamation suit against the Times, alleging that reporters at the paper had sought to undermine his reputation as an entrepreneur and reality television star.
Arrests Grow Over Trump’s Reflecting Pool Renovation Disaster
The Trump administration somehow thinks arresting people will make this whole story go away.
What began as a restoration project for the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has resulted in multiple arrests.
At least five people have been arrested for allegedly vandalizing the pool as of Saturday night, a Trump administration official told CBS News. Five citations were also issued, bringing the grand total of post-renovation citations issued at the site to 14.
In a post on Truth Social the same day, President Donald Trump said that the monument would likely have to be drained another time in order to address the damage, which he said included the use of a “knife or blade” to put a “250 foot long gash into the beautiful facade.” He also claimed that individuals that participated in the destruction poured “corrosive and destructive chemicals” into the pool. He said that all those caught participating deserved “years in jail.”
“Work will begin immediately on fixing the seriously vandalized Reflecting Pool,” Trump wrote in a separate post on Sunday. “I just inspected it, and could only say to myself, and those gathered around me, WOW, who would do such a thing? SICK, DERANGED PEOPLE! We will fix it?”
The White House has so far spent nearly $15 million to rid the Reflecting Pool of algae ahead of the country’s 250th anniversary, but the multimillion-dollar project appears to be another dud. Within days of refilling the pool earlier this month, the algae was back.
The Department of the Interior blamed the algae’s resurgence, in part, on residual algae that had accumulated in the pool’s pipes, which were apparently neglected during the cleaning process. CNN also found abnormally high phosphate levels in the pool after sampling its water. An algae researcher at the Smithsonian described the chemical imbalance as a “field day” for algal growth.
Park workers have tried to address the endemic issue with a smattering of different solutions. On Tuesday, park workers in hi-vis vests were spotted dumping gallons of hydrogen peroxide into the Reflecting Pool. A close-up of their equipment revealed that they were using a 12 percent concentrate, a level that can cause problems if inhaled and burns if the chemical touches the skin, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Hydrogen peroxide is generally considered less environmentally destructive as its compounds readily break down in water, but the high concentration could nonetheless pose a risk to some of the pool’s frequent visitors, such as ducks or other birds. One dead baby duck was caught floating in the pool over the weekend, though the cause of death was unclear.
DOJ Refuses to Officially Say Trump’s $1.8 Billion Slush Fund Is Dead
The Department of Justice is making it clear: Trump isn’t giving up his slush fund.
The Trump administration is refusing to declare in writing that the president’s $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” is actually dead.
Last week, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema ordered that “Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, Jr., and Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent FILE a declaration under the penalty of perjury that they will not take any action to create or operate the Anti-Weaponization Fund, and that the Anti-Weaponization Fund will not proceed in any manner, or under any name,” issuing a preliminary injunction and giving the government a deadline of June 19.
The deadline arrived on Friday, and the Department of Justice responded by refusing to file such a declaration due to “serious separation of powers concerns.” The DOJ claimed that Blanche’s congressional testimony earlier this month that the fund is “not going forward, period” is enough, along with similar statements from other administration officials.
This raises questions as to whether the Trump administration is sneakily trying to keep the fund alive in some form. After Blanche’s congressional testimony, Trump was asked if he was ending his slush fund plans. “No, a court ruled against it,” Trump said, going on to argue that “these are people that have been decimated” and “they should be reimbursed for a crooked government.”
Last week, The Atlantic reported that White House officials were still telling President Trump’s allies that they would get some form of payment, even with Blanche’s public statements disavowing the fund.
Department of Justice lawyers also refused to declare the fund dead in writing to another federal judge, Richard Leon, more than a week ago. At the time, anonymous sources told The Atlantic that work was continuing on the fund inside the Trump administration in secret. With that in mind, Friday’s court filing from White House officials makes it seem like they are trying to skirt the law and create the slush fund anyway.
DOJ Refusing to Release Old Epstein Emails That Could Expose Trump
The Justice Department is still sitting on millions of Epstein files. Some of them could reveal a lot about the president.
The Department of Justice claims that it’s released every document that’s required under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. But the agency previously said it collected more than six million pages of material during its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, and it only released around three million. So what’s in the rest of the Epstein files?
The DOJ claims that the other three million pages are either duplicates, unrelated to Epstein, or protected by legal privilege. But because of the administration’s lack of transparency in regard to Epstein, many are concerned that something is still being hidden.
CBS News analyzed the available files to try to figure out which documents appeared to be missing, and found a number of notable omissions: questionable redactions, missing emails from older accounts, lack of massage scheduling records after 2009, missing prison surveillance footage, and more.
Notably, most of the emails in the released files were from an email account created in 2008, around the time Epstein went to jail: jeevacation@gmail.com.
But Epstein had other, older email addresses that were mentioned in only a few, highly redacted publicly released files. One missing account, littlestjeff@yahoo.com, was from the early 2000s—the time when Epstein was most in touch with Donald Trump.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that he is innocent of all charges when it comes to his connection with Epstein. But, as this analysis by CBS reveals, we may still be missing major pieces of the puzzle.
U.S. Intel Warns Netanyahu Will Try to Blow Up Trump’s Iran Deal
U.S. officials say Israel is determined to kill Trump’s memorandum of understanding with Iran.
U.S. intelligence is warning that the Israeli government is probably going to try to undermine the Trump administration’s peace deal with Iran.
The Washington Post, citing unnamed former and current U.S. officials, reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is going to continue bombing and occupying Lebanon, even though the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding demands a “permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon.”
“Continuing to occupy part of Lebanon is a recipe for disaster,” an unnamed U.S. official told the Post. “Without a full Israeli withdrawal, the likelihood of resumed hostilities between the [Israeli military] and Hezbollah is all but certain.”
ّIsraelis have publicly denounced the 14-point MOU, with media commentators in the country calling it a “catastrophic capitulation” and a “diplomatic Oct. 7,” referencing the Hamas-led attack from 2023. Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Friday seemingly advocated for a genocide in Lebanon, posting on X in Hebrew that “for every tear shed by an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers should cry. All of Lebanon should burn.”
Netanyahu has used constant warfare, from relentless war crimes in Gaza to bombing Iran and Lebanon, to deflect against corruption charges and save his political fortunes. Any end to these conflicts would only hurt his chances in Israel’s October elections. He and his far-right, fascistic political allies in Israel are willing to slaughter countless innocent people across the Middle East to save themselves and continue their settler colonialism.
Utterly Absurd Contractor Behind Reflecting Pool Renovation Disaster
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was renovated by a Trump donor who looks like he was plucked right out of a cartoon.
A business tied to a longtime Trump donor was given the no-bid contract to clean up the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool this spring, reported The New York Times.
The filtration work of the Ohio firm, ironically called Greenwater Services, has come under scrutiny because … well. You’ve seen the pool.
Greenwater Services is owned by the J.J. Carafo Investment Trust, led by John J. Carafo. Carafo is a longtime Republican donor who Trump has described as a “fantastic man.” Carafo, who has previously skirted campaign finance law, also pleaded guilty in 2001 to conspiracy to bribe Democratic Representative James A. Traficant Jr.
The $1.7 million contract was directly awarded to Carafo’s company by the National Park Service, bypassing the usual competitive bidding process. Katie Martin, a spokesperson for the Interior Department, said the department did not know about Carafo’s political affiliation when his firm was hired.
“This company was selected because they had the expertise, work force and materials” needed to finish the job by the country’s 250th anniversary, she told the Times.
Carafo and Greenwater Services did not respond to the Times’ requests for comment.
Because the president wants the reflecting pool “American Flag Blue” by July 4, other firms have been hired for their ability to complete jobs on a short timeline, like Virginia firm Atlantic Industrial Coatings, which was given a no-bid contract of $14.7 million to put bright blue waterproofing material on the pool’s floor. That paint is already peeling.
At this point, it might just be easier to turn the flag green.
Obama Warns America Is Worse Off After Everything Trump Did in Iran
The former president said he isn’t sure what Trump achieved after months of war.
Former President Barack Obama said the U.S. is worse off because of current President Donald Trump’s war with Iran.
“We’ve now fought a war, spent billions and billions of dollars, put enormous strain on our military,” Obama said in an interview with NBC’s Craig Melvin.
“A lot of people have died. And it feels like we’re back where we were before we started the war, except maybe a little bit worse off,” Obama continued. “I am very happy to see a ceasefire. And I’m hopeful that it holds.”
The interview was conducted before the public opening of the Obama Presidential Center on Thursday, and aired Friday morning on the Today show. Obama pointed out that under the 2015 JCPOA agreement his administration negotiated with Iran, “Iran had agreed not to develop nuclear weapons.
“This administration, or a prior version of this administration, pulled out of it, which caused then Iran to develop more nuclear capacity,” Obama continued, referring to Trump’s decision to withdraw from that deal in 2018, despite the agreement also involving the European Union, Russia, China, the U.K., France, and Germany. International observers also said that Iran was complying with the JCPOA at the time.
Obama faced criticism from the right and his own party over the nuclear agreement, but the deal had the support of the international community, and it didn’t leave the U.S. in a worse position. Trump’s memorandum of understanding with Iran is under fire from virtually everyone, including Democrats, Trump’s MAGA base, Republicans in Congress, and Israeli officials, who are calling it a “surrender” and “total capitulation.”
In his speech at the opening of his library Thursday, Obama emphasized principles in the Constitution that Trump has flouted throughout his time in the Oval Office, and praised protesters in Minnesota who rallied against the Trump administration’s brutal immigration effort in the state, saying, “These are the values and traditions I believe in.” What values does Trump believe in, except for acting in his own self-interest?
Trump Wins Power to Replace Slavery Exhibit at President’s House
This Juneteenth, the Trump administration is still determined to erase Black history.
The Trump administration will be allowed to replace an exhibit on slavery at George Washington’s home in Philadelphia, a federal appeals court panel said on Thursday.
The ruling struck down a lower court decision that said the National Park Service must restore the exhibit, which it had torn down to comply with the president’s executive order last year on “restoring truth and sanity to American history.”
In January, NPS removed the six-panel outdoor display, which documented the lives of people enslaved by Washington during the fight for independence. It was unveiled in 2010 after years of community advocacy, WHYY reported.
“It was the grand opening of the first slave memorial of its kind on federal property in the history of the U.S. We thought it would last forever. But 15 years later, the destruction came,” activist Michael Coard said to NPR.
Philadelphia quickly sued the Interior Department to restore the exhibit, and won. U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe ordered the Trump administration to put the panels back up, comparing the administration’s efforts to those taken by the totalitarian government in George Orwell’s 1984.
But now, the Trump administration will be allowed to replace the exhibit with its own version of history. The three-judge panel on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals praised the administration’s plan for a new installation, saying that it was “full of historical context.” The new exhibit will no longer center slavery or enslaved people’s role in the creation of the United States, and has been accused by advocates of “whitewashing.”
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said she would fight the decision, writing, “We cannot and WILL not rest until the full story of American history—including the existence of Slavery at the President’s House here in Philadelphia—is told, for our Nation and the World to see.”
As the country celebrates Juneteenth, the commemoration of the day when the last enslaved people in America were finally emancipated, the administration is fighting to erase Black history.
Republicans Turn Against JD Vance After His Stark Warning to Israel
The MAGA base is furious at the Trump administration on multiple counts after its agreement with Iran.
Vice President JD Vance is taking flak from conservatives after criticizing Israeli opposition to President Trump’s deal with Iran.
Vance was asked at a news conference Thursday about reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was angry over the deal, which provides Iran with several major concessions. Vance said that he hadn’t heard Netanyahu offer any criticism, but he had words for Israeli Cabinet ministers attacking Trump and the deal.
“My message to them would be twofold. No. 1: Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time,” Vance said. “If I was in the Cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.”
Vance added that two-thirds of the weapons that Israel has “have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars.”
“The problem for Israel is not Donald J Trump, and anybody in Israel who thinks their biggest problem is the president of the United States needs to wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in,” Vance said.
That was enough to set off the MAGA base, including Republicans in Congress.
Hard-right Representative Randy Fine, known for his bigotry against Muslims, called Vance’s comments “absolutely inappropriate and frankly disgusting,” in an interview on Real America’s Voice Friday morning.
“The state of Israel was not created by the United States; it is not funded by the United States, except in some small way. It was created in the blood and sweat and tears of the Jewish people arising out of the Holocaust,” the Florida congressman said. “The United States didn’t support Israel in its formation: In fact, there were times when it put arms embargos in place, and JD Vance would be wise to go back and learn his history. I think his comments … were completely out of line.”
Fox News host Brian Kilmeade also expressed his dismay at the vice president Friday.
“If the cartels were lobbing rockets into Texas from Mexico, we would not allow that, even if Israel asked us to, and I think that I was a little surprised that the vice president was going after Israel yesterday at the podium more than he was going after Iran,” Kilmeade said.
NewsNation host Batya Ungar-Sargon said Thursday that “JD Vance is out there criticizing Israel, making up fantasies about how it is Israel’s fault and Israel wants Iran to be failed state, and if only Israel would lay down its arms and allow Hezbollah to keep attacking it, there would be peace in the Middle East.
“It is disgusting, it is the complete Tucker Carlsonificiation of the vice president of the United States, and it is utterly deplorable. The only good thing I can say about it is if this was a dry run for Vance 2028, we sure learned a lot,” Ungar-Sargon said.
Vance also told The New York Times earlier Thursday that his response to Israeli opponents of the deal “would be: What is your exact proposal? You’re a country of 9 million people. You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have.”
The backlash to Vance reveals that many conservatives want Israel to have a blank check, regardless of U.S. interests. Vance is also getting off easy compared to Democrats, who are called antisemites for anything resembling criticism of Israel, as Abby Phillip pointed out on CNN Thursday. Israel has committed genocide in Gaza and continues to kill civilians in Lebanon, trying to prevent any checks on its actions and block any hope of peace.
Vance’s words may be self-serving to protect the Trump administration from political fallout over a protracted war with Iran, but his criticism of Israel doesn’t go far enough, letting it off the hook for its ongoing genocide. Conservatives should realize that Israel trying to dictate U.S. foreign policy is bad for Republicans politically, and bad for the U.S. and global peace overall.
Trump Sparks Diplomatic Crisis With Italy Over Egomaniacal Photo Claim
Trump, as self-obsessed as ever, claims Italy’s prime minister “begged” for a photo. She says it never happened.
President Donald Trump has sparked a diplomatic crisis with Italy after insulting Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on television.
The president told an Italian TV channel Meloni “begged” to take a picture with him. “She wanted a picture with me so badly. I wouldn’t have taken it, but I felt sorry for her,” Trump said, according to Reuters.
Meloni responded with her own video, captioned, “Io e l’Italia non imploriamo mai,” which translates to “Neither I nor Italy ever beg.”
“Donald Trump’s statements are completely made up,” Meloni said, writes Reuters. “I am frankly astonished. I don’t know why the president of the United States behaves like this towards his allies: It is not the first time, moreover.”
Trump’s flippant comment had immediate diplomatic consequences. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani canceled his upcoming trip to the U.S., writing on X, “The serious and offensive words of President Trump towards Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offend all of Italy,” according to the platform’s translation.
Other Italian politicians are also coming forward in support of Meloni, including Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini.
“Whoever attacks @GiorgiaMeloni attacks all of us,” Salvini wrote, as translated by X.
Trump and the right-wing Meloni used to be close allies but recently sparred over Trump’s tirades against Pope Leo.
Italian Senator Giovanbattista Fazzolari, Meloni’s political ally, put it well: “It is unclear whether out of intent or ineptitude [Trump] is wrecking the historic relations between the United States and Europe,” he told Reuters.
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