How Russia Stooge Tucker Carlson Tried to Insert Putin Into Congress

Tucker Carlson says he tried to get House Speaker Mike Johnson to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin before approving more aid to help Ukraine.

In Wednesday’s episode of The Tucker Carlson Show podcast, the titular host and his guest Glenn Greenwald lamented a lack of communication between the United States and Russia post–2020 presidential election. In general, they blamed the Democrats, who chilled relations after it became apparent that Russia had meddled on Donald Trump’s behalf.

“But it’s the leadership of the Republican Party too,” Carlson said.

“I had a conversation with the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, and he was about to appropriate tens of billions more for Ukraine, and I said, ‘Well, why don’t you check with Putin? You’re the speaker of the House, you’re number three in line for the presidency—well what, I’ll see if I can facilitate that? I’ll call the press office, kind of set you up, why don’t you talk to Putin?’”

Much to Carlson’s surprise, Johnson refused.

“I mean I’m not attacking Mike Johnson—I guess I am attacking Mike Johnson—I don’t know what I’m saying, I’m just reporting what actually happened,” Carlson ranted. “Don’t you have a moral duty to get as much information about this war before you fund its continuation and the killing of all these people? Like, shouldn’t you know more?”

It’s unclear exactly when this exchange occurred, though Johnson helped secure bipartisan House support in April to pass $6.1 billion in military aid to Ukraine.

Carlson seems to think Johnson ought to run his governing decisions past a foreign autocrat before making decisions for the American people—and should speak to the leader carrying out the deadly incursion into another state before deciding to send aid there.

Greenwald piped up to say that it would’ve been bad press for Johnson if it had gotten out, but that he “should want to understand the Russian perspective” on its own invasion.

Carlson, a close ally of President-elect Donald Trump, has long pushed his distinctly pro-Russian views. He’s downplayed the country’s conflict with Ukraine and promoted a Russian-based conspiracy theory that the U.S. was plotting to supply Ukraine with bioweapons.

(It’s worth noting that Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s nominee to head up national intelligence, said something similar.)

Carlson appears regularly on Russian state television and once conducted his own televised interview with Putin, during which the Russian president openly mocked him for just what a propaganda tool he had become. Soon he’ll have the ear of the acting president of the United States, who seems more than willing to seek Putin’s approval too.

Representative Nancy Mace’s latest attention grab has gifted the world something it never asked for: bathroom-themed merch.

The South Carolina Republican has spent the majority of her week advancing a bill with the aim of banning one person from using toilets on Capitol Hill: Representative-elect Sarah McBride, the first openly transgender person to be elected to Congress.

“The Left wants to NORMALIZE balls in women’s stalls. Hell no. I’m NOT backing down,” Mace—who said she supported LGBTQ rights as recently as 2021—wrote on X Thursday night. “Every purchase will help FUEL MY FIGHT to protect women and girls across America. HOLD THE LINE!”

But it’s hard to imagine who would be attracted to Mace’s debut clothing line, which brazenly feature the women’s bathroom logo alongside the text “Come and take it”—a tag line that sounds more akin to an invitation for sexual assault than an alleged mission to thwart it.

Statistically speaking, the threat that transgender people pose to the sanctity of public restrooms is zilch. A 2018 study from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law found that bathroom-related nondiscrimination laws pose practically no risk to women, and that claims to the contrary are little more than myths that are “not empirically grounded.”

Even Mace’s own ex-staffers have gone nuclear on her over the transphobic stunt on McBride. On Wednesday, the lawmaker’s former communications director Natalie Johnson said that Mace’s attacks on McBride were little more than a “ploy to get on Fox.”

“Tweeting 262 times about a bill that applies to like .00000001% of Congress in 36 hours is definitely about protecting women. It’s certainly not just a ploy for media attention,” Johnson tweeted.

The attention-seeking congresswoman has openly acknowledged that the stunt is a direct attack on McBride, telling reporters on Monday that it was “that and more.”

“Sarah McBride doesn’t get a say. I mean, this is a biological man,” Mace said, adding that the newly elected Delaware congresswoman “does not belong in women’s spaces, women’s bathrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms, period, full stop.”

In another interview, Mace claimed that the mere thought of a trans woman walking into a women’s locker room “feels like assault.”

But the whole charade appears especially hollow in light of the fact that Mace and McBride both have private bathrooms in their offices. The only people that the bill will actually hurt will be the nonelected trans employees of the U.S. Capitol complex, who apparently have—until now—been using the bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity with no issue.

Donald Trump is upset with the media for accurately reporting that his election night victory wasn’t exactly a “landslide.”

Trump transition team spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt on Friday took aim at Politico and The New York Times for reporting on the fact that President-elect Trump didn’t win the popular vote by some resounding majority.

“New Fake News Narrative Alert!” Leavitt posted on X. “Here are the ridiculous headlines from @politico and @nytimes this morning. The fake news is trying to minimize President Trump’s massive and historic victory to try to delegitimize his mandate before he even takes the Oath of Office again.”

It’s no surprise that Trump and his team are fuming: Since November 5, Trump’s margin of victory has narrowed considerably. As of the vote count Friday morning, Trump only won against Vice President Kamala Harris by 1.6 points, and failed to secure more than 50 percent of the popular vote. Hillary Clinton managed to beat Trump by a larger margin in 2016 than Trump did over Harris in 2024.

Trump and his supporters have been pushing the landslide narrative ever since he defeated Harris. “We had a great election in the U.S.… Amazing what happened, we had tremendous success. The most successful in over 100 years they say,” he told Fox News last week. Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung claimed that “President Trump won in dominating and historic fashion after the Democrats and the fake news media peddled outright lies and disinformation throughout the campaign.” And Republicans throughout Congress have claimed the same.

Trump likes the landslide narrative, true or not (not), because he thinks it gives him more ground to stand on for his insane agenda. But his mandate is much weaker than he’d have you believe.

The sentencing for Donald Trump’s conviction in his hush-money trial has been canceled indefinitely.

Judge Juan Merchan of the Supreme Court of the State of New York on Friday granted Trump’s application for a stay of sentencing, meaning the president-elect will not face justice anytime soon for his only criminal conviction, on 34 felony counts.

Trump has argued that the entire case should be thrown out after the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity, and this decision is a step in that direction. But, Merchan has made no mention of throwing out his felony convictions, and the Manhattan district attorney’s office seems to be waiting out the president-elect’s four-year term and then revisiting sentencing.

The charges came from Trump making $130,000 in hush-money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to cover up their affair before the 2016 election through his then-fixer, Michael Cohen. A jury found the president-elect guilty in May, making it the first and only time a former president was successfully prosecuted on criminal charges.

At one time, Trump was facing three other indictments—one related to election interference in Georgia, a federal election interference case related to January 6, and his mishandling of classified documents. But now, they’re all moot until he’s done with his second term as president, as his strategy to delay his cases and win the election worked almost perfectly.

This story has been updated.

It’s weeks out from Election Day, and President-elect Donald Trump still hasn’t signed the legal documents required to formally start the transition of power, according to the White House.

Trump’s failure to submit the documents has waylaid a number of essential processes for a peaceful and organized transition, including security clearances, essential briefings, and providing resources to Trump’s transition team before the inauguration, reported USA Today.

The MAGA leader is noticeably overdue on the necessary materials: typically, the documents are filed a month before a presidential election.

“Our teams continue to stay in touch,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a press briefing Thursday. “As of now, the Trump-Vance transition team has not yet entered into the agreements with the White House and the General Service Administration.”

President Joe Biden promised a “peaceful and orderly transition” mere days after the election.

His Chief of Staff Jeff Zients reached out to Trump’s transition team after the forty-sixth and forty-seventh president met in the Oval Office last week, and has “consistently reiterated” wanting to work with Trump’s team in order to ensure a proper transition, according to Jean-Pierre.

“We’re going to continue to engage with the Trump transition team to ensure that we do have that efficient, effective transition of power,” Jean-Pierre said.

Trump’s team has not provided an explanation for the unusual delay. Instead, Brian Hughes—a spokesperson for the Trump transition team—told USA Today that Trump’s attorneys “continue to constructively engage with the Biden-Harris Administration lawyers regarding all agreements contemplated by the Presidential Transition Act.”

“We will update you once a decision is made,” Hughes told the publication.

The far-right Hungarian prime minister and friend of Donald Trump, Viktor Orbán, is thumbing his nose at the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Orbán has invited Netanyahu to Hungary in defiance of the ICC’s arrest warrants, which were also issued for former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif. The Hungarian leader called the warrants a “complete defamation” of international law and claimed they will worsen conflict in the Middle East.

“This is wrong in itself,” Orbán told Hungarian state radio Friday. “So there is no other choice here: We have to confront this decision, and so later today I will invite the prime minister of the Israelis, Mr. Netanyahu, to visit Hungary.”

Netanyahu and Gallant were charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes for Israel’s brutal war in Gaza, which has killed more than 44,000 Palestinians including more than 17,000 children, all likely massive undercounts. Estimates in July from the medical journal The Lancet say the death toll ​​could exceed 186,000.

Trump and America’s far right have long admired Orbán, with conservatives praising his authoritarian style of leadership. The conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, which authored the Project 2025 manifesto, goes out of its way to promote the Hungarian leader. Trump and Orbán get along very well, with the president-elect meeting him multiple times over the past year.

The two authoritarians have a love of Netanyahu in common, with Trump praising the Israeli leader and absurdly accusing President Biden (who called the ICC warrants against Netanyahu “outrageous”) of being too tough on him. As long as Orbán and Trump are in charge of Hungary and the U.S., respectively, wanted fugitive Netanyahu can probably count on the two countries to provide him safe havens from the ICC arrest warrant, because fascists look out for one another.

Senator Tom Cotton threatened to invade a U.S. ally on behalf of Israel’s genocidal regime. 

The International Criminal Court issued fresh arrest warrants Thursday for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyau and Israel’s former Foreign Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as  Hamas’s military leader Mohammad Dief, alleging that they’d committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.

While only a handful of the 124 member countries have signaled their willingness to follow through on the warrants, the Netherlands, where the ICC is located, made itself particularly clear: “We are obliged to cooperate with the ICC … we abide 100 percent by the Rome Statute,” said Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp on Thursday.

Cotton, a staunch ally of Israel, made a thinly veiled threat to take military action against the Netherlands if they deign to comply with the warrants they are legally required to comply with as ICC member states. 

“The ICC is a kangaroo court and Karim Khan is a deranged fanatic. Woe to him and anyone who tries to enforce these outlaw warrants. Let me give them all a friendly reminder: the American law on the ICC is known as The Hague Invasion Act for a reason. Think about it,” the Arkansas Republican wrote in a post on X. 

The Hague Invasion Act empowers the United States to free its allies from the clutches of the ICC using “necessary and appropriate” means—but Cotton’s implication promises something much darker and full of “woe.” 

It seems Cotton has maintained the same bloodthirsty attitude from more than a year ago, when he said that “Israel can bounce the rubble in Gaza. Anything that happens in Gaza is the responsibility of Hamas—Hamas killed women and children in Israel last weekend.”

It’s clear that Cotton cannot see that any other state actor has a responsibility for Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza, which has killed more than 44,000 people—including the U.S., which has readily funded Israel’s atrocities. The U.S. has consistently avoided any measures holding Israel accountable, backing off its hollow threats to withhold military support.

The Republican vision for the Department of Education’s destruction goes far beyond Donald Trump.

On Thursday, Republican Senator Mike Rounds introduced a bill that would totally abolish the department. “The federal Department of Education has never educated a single student, and it’s long past time to end this bureaucratic Department that causes more harm than good,” said Rounds in a statement. “For years, I’ve worked toward removing the federal Department of Education. I’m pleased that President-elect Trump shares this vision.… This legislation is a roadmap to eliminating the federal Department of Education by practically rehoming these federal programs in the departments where they belong.”

House Republicans are attacking the Department of Education too. Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie told ABC News that he’d bring forth department-destroying legislation of his own in the coming weeks.

“There’ll be one sentence—only thing that will change is the date: The Department of Education shall terminate on December 31, 2026,” Massie said. He has been trying to tear down the Department since 2023.

The bills will likely have strong support from the president-elect, as the elimination of the department was a central component of his successful campaign.Trump’s nominee for the Department of Education, former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon, also shares these wanton views. And with Republican control imminent at all levels federally, it seems possible that this bureaucratic nightmare could soon become a reality.

Donald Trump has tapped one of his impeachment attorneys, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, to lead the Justice Department.

“For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans—Not anymore,” Trump said Thursday in a statement. “Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting Crime, and Making America Safe Again.”

Bondi replaced ex-Florida Representative Matt Gaetz as the top contender for attorney general after he withdrew his nomination Thursday. Insiders believed that Gaetz never had a chance at passing the Senate’s rigorous nomination process, especially as the alleged sexual abuser faced intense scrutiny over the details of two federal investigations related to sex trafficking accusations.

Gaetz hurriedly withdrew his nomination following news that the House Ethics Committee had obtained evidence that there was a second incident in which the ex-congressman slept with a minor.

As one of the few Trump nominees with relevant experience, Bondi could prove equally if not more dangerous than Gaetz in the crucial law enforcement role—as well as a relative shoo-in. Assuming that all Democrats will vote against Trump’s nominees, the president-elect can only afford to lose three Republican votes to squeeze his candidates into the executive branch. Bondi, who served more than 18 years as a prosecutor, stands against a background of Trump nominees that authoritarianism scholars have described as “anti-qualified.”

Bondi and Trump have been longtime allies. In 2013, his charity (illegally) issued $25,000 to her reelection bid for Florida attorney general—while her office was weighing whether to pursue charges against Trump University (she ultimately did not). Bondi was a star player on Trump’s legal team during his first impeachment, and was a vocal opponent of Jack Smith during Trump’s post-2020 legal woes, accusing the special counsel of “weaponising our legal system” for trying to hold the former president’s feet to the fire.

New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had the perfect response to Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene’s new gig as Congress’s billionaire babysitter.

The House Oversight Committee announced Thursday that it would create a new subcommittee expressly for the purpose of working with the Department of Government Efficiency, the meme-based advisory group led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, that plans to slash trillions of dollars’ worth of essential government services for the purpose of eradicating the administrative state and racking up new government contracts to replace it. 

Greene is reportedly set to head the new subcommittee, and Ocasio-Cortez managed to find the silver lining.

“This is good, actually. She barely shows up and doesn’t do the reading,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X Thursday. “To borrow a phrase I saw elsewhere, it’s like giving someone an unplugged controller.”

“Absolutely dying at those two now getting assigned the ‘privilege’ of ‘working’ with MTG,” she wrote in a separate post. “That is actually hilarious. Enjoy, fellas! Very prestigious post you have there.”

Representative Jamie Raskin also weighed in on just how ridiculous Republicans’ plan is to shrink the size of government by creating a new committee. 

“It’s hard to keep track of all the new departments and bureaucracies the Republicans are setting up to study the size and efficiency of government,” Raskin said in a statement. “But isn’t that what Chairman Comer and the Committee on Oversight and Accountability actually said they were doing over the last two years? Where’s their report and recommendations? Perhaps the impeachment flop derailed them a bit.”

“So now a noted student of American government, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, will chair a subcommittee to work with two unvetted billionaires who stand to receive billions more in government contracts and subsidies from the government under Trump,” Raskin said. “That’s why Democrats will stay focused on waste, fraud, abuse and corruption.  The government belongs to the people, not the billionaire oligarchs.”

Musk and Ramaswamy have already outlined their plans to strip funding from public broadcasting, Planned Parenthood, and “entitlement programs,” which likely include Medicare and Medicaid. It may be a blessing that they now have to work with the congressperson more interested in pushing outlandish, and antisemitic, conspiracy theories than actually governing.