Republicans Forced to Remove Sale of Public Lands From Budget Bill

Republican Senator Mike Lee’s proposed mass sell-off of public lands has foundered on the rocks of Senate procedure.

As a budget reconciliation bill, the Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill can pass with a simple majority, rather than the 60-vote hurdle needed to overcome a filibuster. However, it is subject to certain constraints: Under what is known as the “Byrd rule,” provisions that are unrelated to the budget get the chopping block.

Accordingly, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has in recent days been stripping certain extraneous provisions from the plan.

Among the dirt washed away in this so-called “Byrd bath” was a provision authored by Lee that would have put for sale up to 3.3 million acres of public land in 11 Western states, including Lee’s state of Utah. The plan received criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and from hunters, fishers, and conservation groups concerned that it would impact treasured natural sites in the American West.

While Lee claimed the land could be used to address the need for affordable housing, critical observers saw the proposal as merely an effort to pay for tax breaks under Trump. And, under the plan, there would have been “no significant guardrails to prevent valued public lands from being sold for trophy homes, pricey vacation spots, exclusive golf communities, or other developments,” according to the Center for American Progress.

Lee, for his part, has vowed to return with a diluted version of the proposal, writing on X, “Yes, the Byrd Rule limits what can go in the reconciliation bill, but I’m doing everything I can to support President Trump and move this forward. Stay tuned. We’re just getting started.”

Yet another Democrat is calling for Trump’s impeachment after he dropped multiple bombs on Iranian nuclear sites without congressional approval.

On Tuesday, Texas Democrat Al Green filed articles of impeachment against President Trump on the grounds of “abuse of presidential powers by disregarding the separation of powers—devolving American democracy into authoritarianism by unconstitutionally usurping Congress’s power to declare war.”

“President Trump’s unilateral, unprovoked use of force without congressional authorization or notice constitutes an abuse of power when there was no imminent threat to the United States, which facilitates the devolution of American democracy into authoritarianism,” Green continued. “I did not come to Congress to be a bystander while a president abuses power and devolves American democracy into authoritarianism with himself as an authoritarian president. President Trump’s unauthorized bombing of Iran constitutes a de facto declaration of war.”

Green joined Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in calling for Trump’s impeachment.

“The President’s disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers. He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations,” AOC wrote Saturday on X. “It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.”

These calls, along with the bipartisan War Powers Resolution introduced by Democrat Ro Khanna and Republican Thomas Massie, are certainly much stronger messages than what Democratic leadership has been putting out, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries admitting Monday that he hadn’t even looked at Massie and Khanna’s resolution.

But the calls will likely amount to nothing, as impeachment is incredibly unlikely to be approved by the House (Trump has been impeached twice already). It also raises questions about the politics of who is allowed to circumvent congressional approval to drop bombs on another country. Former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden each dropped thousands of bombs on various nations without receiving congressional approval, but they didn’t receive any calls for their impeachment.

Representative Robert Garcia was elected Tuesday to become the Democrats’ newest ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, potentially marking a changing tide in the Democratic Party. 

Forty-seven-year-old Garcia, who is only on his second term in Congress, defeated Representative Stephen Lynch, one of the most senior Democrats on the committee, in a 150–63 secret-ballot vote. 

Lynch, 70, had previously served as the ranking member when former Representative Gerry Connolly took a leave of absence in April. Connolly’s passing last month allowed Republicans in Congress to pass Donald Trump’s gargantuan spending bill, undermining a Democratic agenda and summoning broad scrutiny on the liberal party’s efficacy and reluctance to elevate younger voices. Notably Connolly, whose condition was publicly known, was chosen over the much younger Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. 

Earlier this year, the Trump administration targeted Garcia for his opposition to the Department of Government Efficiency’s corporate-style takeover of the federal government. 

“What the American public wants is for us to bring actual weapons to this bar fight. This is an actual fight for democracy,” Garcia said in February. Shortly afterward, he received a letter from Washington’s district attorney as if he’d made a threat on Elon Musk’s life. 

But Garcia doubled down on his comments, undeterred. “It’s important for folks to be able to know that Democrats need to be in a fight. This is a fight that we’re in for our very democracy. And the fact that the Trump DOJ now wants to silence members of Congress, because we’re actually willing to take on Elon Musk is quite dangerous,” he said at the time.

Garcia represents a broad coalition: He was formally endorsed by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and backed by members of the Progressive and Equality Caucuses. He also enjoyed support from the 43-member delegation from California, the largest in the Democratic Party. 

Progressive and moderate Democrats alike have already begun celebrating Garcia’s new gig.  

California Representative Judy Chu told NBC News that Garcia had “shown steady and strong leadership that brings people together.” 

“He has a young, fresh energy that I think the Oversight Committee needs,” she added.

Florida Representative Maxwell Frost congratulated Garcia on his new position. “He’s a tough progressive with a strong work ethic. As a corrupt admin breaks laws & enriches themselves while people suffer, he will lead the fight to hold them accountable & show the nation,” Frost wrote in a post on X. 

Representative Jared Moskowitz, notably not a progressive, wrote on X that Garcia was “the right person for the right moment.”

Even House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi said she’d supported the staunch progressive. “Well I’m a Californian.… I’m partial to mayors,” she told reporters Tuesday, referring to Garcia’s tenure as the mayor of Long Beach.  

Attacking Iran has achieved nothing, according to Donald Trump, who evaded questions from reporters Tuesday as to whether or not the Middle Eastern country had made commitments about uranium enrichment.

“They’re not going to have enrichment and they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon, and they know that,” Trump said aboard Air Force One. “They’re going to get on to being a great trading nation. You know, they’re very good traders and they’re gonna be a great trading nation. And they have a lot of oil.”

Trump directed airstrikes without congressional approval on Iran’s nuclear facilities Saturday. The attack damaged facilities in Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan, with damage estimates expected to be “very significant,” according to International Atomic Energy Agency Director Rafael Grossi.

Iran has argued that it is seeking uranium for peaceful purposes, such as expanding its nuclear energy program. It has undergone years of nuclear site inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, and as of last week was allowing IAEA inspectors to remain in the country, according to Grossi.

The only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East is presumed to be Israel, which will not confirm or deny possessing what the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons estimates are approximately 90 nuclear weapons.

Trump insisted Tuesday that “the last thing on Iran’s mind right now is nuclear weapons.”

At least 606 people have been killed in Iran since Israel first attacked on June 13, according to Iran’s health ministry. Approximately 107 people died on Monday alone, making it the deadliest single day of the conflict.

Trump announced a successful ceasefire between Iran and Israel Monday evening, before the two nations had jointly come to an agreement on the terms of ending their conflict. Hours after the ceasefire deadline had passed, the two nations continued lobbing missiles at one another.

“We basically—we have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing,” Trump told reporters at the White House earlier Tuesday before he set off for a NATO summit at The Hague, where rifts are expected to widen over defense spending and a dampening American interest in defending Ukraine against Russia.

Trump won in November in no small part due to his campaign pledges to end the wars in Ukraine and in Gaza, but just six months into his second term, he has instigated a third war while failing to resolve the first pair, earning the ire of some of his longest and staunchest defenders, including Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie.

Senior Justice Department official Emil Bove, whom President Donald Trump has nominated for a lifetime appointment on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, expressed his willingness to ignore court orders in order to speed up the president’s mass deportations, according to a whistleblower report.

The stunning disclosure comes from former Justice Department official Erez Reuveni—who was fired by the Trump administration after acknowledging in court that the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia was an “administrative error.”

Reuveni’s new allegations, which were submitted to Senate and House Judiciary Committee leaders, as well as the U.S. inspector general and acting special counsel, were published by The New York Times on Tuesday.

His account details a meeting with Bove and subordinate officials at the DOJ and officials within the Office of Immigration Litigation on March 14.

According to Reuveni’s complaint, in the meeting, Bove informed those in attendance of Trump’s then-forthcoming proclamation, which would invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 in service of his mass deportation agenda. Planes containing deportees subject to the Alien Enemies Act would take off over the next two days, Bove reportedly said.

Bove reportedly “stressed to all in attendance that planes needed to take off no matter what,” though he also noted “the possibility that a court order would enjoin those removals before they could be effectuated.”

The suggested response? “Bove stated that DOJ would need to consider telling the courts ‘fuck you’ and ignore any such court order,” per Reuveni’s report.

The remark was followed by “stunned” looks and “awkward, nervous glances.”

“Silence overtook the room,” the report says, and “Reuveni and others were quickly ushered out of the room.”

This revelation—which adds to Bove’s record of targeting January 6 investigators and helping drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams—comes a day before he is set to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his nomination to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, issued a statement saying the allegations “not only speak to Mr. Bove’s failure to fulfill his ethical obligations as a lawyer, but demonstrate that his activities are part of a broader pattern by President Trump and his allies to undermine the Justice Department’s commitment to the rule of law.”

President Trump went on a wordy, meandering rant against Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez after the congresswoman called for his impeachment.

“Stupid AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the ‘dumbest’ people in Congress, is now calling for my Impeachment, despite the fact that the Crooked and Corrupt Democrats have already done that twice before. The reason for her ‘rantings’ is all of the Victories that the U.S.A. has had under the Trump Administration,” the president wrote on Truth Social Tuesday.

AOC called for Trump’s impeachment over his bombing of Iran without congressional approval.

“The President’s disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers. He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations,” she wrote Saturday on X. “It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.”

Trump was obviously bothered by this statement, and he went on to sully the name of AOC and several other progressive women of color in the Democratic Party.

“When we examine her Test Scores, we will find out that she is NOT qualified for office but, nevertheless, far more qualified than Crockett, who is a seriously Low IQ individual, or Ilhan Omar, who does nothing but complain about our Country, yet the Failed Country that she comes from doesn’t have a Government, is drenched in Crime and Poverty, and is rated one of the WORST in the World, if it’s even rated at all. How dare ‘The Mouse’ tells us how to run the United States of America! We’re just now coming back from that Radical Left experiment with Sleepy Joe, Kamala, and ‘THE AUTOPEN,’ in charge. What a disaster it was!” he continued on.

He then dared AOC to take the same dementia test he once did.

“AOC should be forced to take the Cognitive Test that I just completed at Walter Reed Medical Center, as part of my Physical. As the Doctor in charge said, ‘President Trump ACED it,’ meaning, I got every answer right,” Trump wrote. “Instead of her constant complaining, Alexandria should go back home to Queens, where I was also brought up, and straighten out her filthy, disgusting, crime ridden streets, in the District she ‘represents,’ and which she never goes to anymore. She better start worrying about her own Primary, before she thinks about beating our Great Palestinian Senator, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, whose career is definitely on very thin ice! She and her Democrat friends have just hit the Lowest Poll Numbers in Congressional History, so go ahead and try Impeaching me, again, MAKE MY DAY!”

“Mr. President, don’t take your anger out on me - I’m just a silly girl,” AOC responded on X. “Take it out on whoever convinced you to betray the American people and our Constitution by illegally bombing Iran and dragging us into war. It only took you 5 months to break almost every promise you made.”

There is certainly a question of Trump’s impulsiveness here, as receiving congressional approval for the Iran nuclear strikes would have made it look like he wasn’t acting wantonly during the conflict. But he didn’t and now he’s got members of Congress on both sides of the aisle scrambling to craft War Powers Act resolutions. But for what it’s worth, calls for Trump’s impeachment on those grounds feel empty, as former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden both dropped thousands of bombs on various nations without receiving congressional approval. Who exactly is allowed to who is allowed to drop bombs on another country without congressional approval, and when do we decide to deem that an act of war?

This article has been updated.

The rift between Donald Trump and one of his former allies is widening.

Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie has accused the president of pursuing an unconstitutional war with Iran, so in return, Trump volleyed back that it is actually Massie who is “very bad for the Constitution.”

“Third Rate Congressman Thomas Massie, of the Great Commonwealth of Kentucky, a phenomenal State that I won all three times (by a lot!), keeps talking about how he is going to protect the Constitution, but he is actually very bad for the Constitution, and will probably vote against ‘THE GREAT, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL,’ that grants the Biggest Tax Cuts in History, secures our Southern Border from Criminal Invasion, funds the Golden Dome, our Great Military and Veterans, protects our Second Amendment, grants NO TAX ON TIPS, NO TAX ON OVERTIME, and NO TAX ON SOCIAL SECURITY (for our Great Seniors!), and so much more. He is against all of the above, and many other incredible things,” Trump posted on Truth Social Tuesday.

Massie offered Trump a full-throated endorsement in the 2024 race on the basis that he would prevent “needless wars abroad.” But the two have locked horns several times since Trump took office. Massie was one of two Republican lawmakers to vote against Trump’s tax plan last month, and over the weekend condemned Trump’s strikes on Iran.

“Why would anyone want to vote for a so-called ‘Congressman,’ a RINO, at best, who wants to raise your Taxes by 68 percent, which is what will happen if, ‘THE GREAT, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ doesn’t pass,” Trump said. “He votes, ‘NO!’ on everything, because he thinks it makes him cool, but he’s not cool, he’s a LOSER!”

Massie’s opposition to Trump’s war agenda has not been consistent. After several days of heckling in MAGA’s public square, Massie told Punchbowl News Monday night that he was willing to “hold off” on voting for the bipartisan War Powers Resolution, an effort to hold Trump accountable for engaging in an act of war without Congress’s permission.

“It might not be necessary,” Massie told the publication. “If there’s no hostilities—the resolution is to withdraw or end hostilities.”

But later that evening, the Kentucky Republican was on MSNBC continuing to chastise the president for reversing course on his campaign promises, telling the network that he was “worried” that the first six months of Trump’s second term had “already sort of gone astray of what was one of the basic principles of putting America first.”

A controversial immigrant detention center under construction in Florida will be bankrolled by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

The center, nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz,” would repurpose a defunct airstrip in the Everglades in service of Trump’s draconian immigration agenda.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier unveiled plans for the facility last week.

In a video aired on Fox News, Uthmeier said of the 39-square-mile site: “You don’t need to invest that much in the perimeter. People get out, there’s not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons. Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.”

In an appearance on The Benny Johnson Show, Uthmeier announced that the project was underway. During that episode, the eponymous right-wing host giddily observed Uthmeier was “making [Trump’s] dream come true,” since Trump reportedly floated installing a snake and gator-filled moat at the southern border during his first term—a proposal so outlandishly ghastly that even Trump had the political tact to separate himself from it at the time.

The creation of the new facility, which would cost $450 million a year to operate, according to The New York Times, will be funded “in large part” by FEMA, said Noem in a statement published to X.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are working at turbo speed to deliver cost-effective and innovative ways to deliver on the American people’s mandate for mass deportations of criminal illegal aliens,” Noem’s statement said. “We will expand facilities and bed space in just days, thanks to our partnership with Florida.”

Noem said the money would come from FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program, which was created in 2023 by Congress and administered by FEMA to provide grants to organizations or state and local governments providing services to immigrants processed by DHS and awaiting legal proceedings.

The initiative has since been the subject of MAGA attacks and conspiracy theorizing. Now, if Noem follows through, it will apparently be used to help fulfill the president’s wildest immigration fantasies.

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller owns a massive stake in Palantir, which stands to make millions off of Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown, according to the Project on Government Oversight.  

Miller’s public financial disclosure report said that the ghoulish Homeland Security adviser owns between $100,001 and $250,000 in assets at the defense company. Miller reportedly acquired the stock after Trump exited the White House in 2021, but sometime before he enacted his sprawling plan to bolster immigration enforcement. The data had been revised as recently as June 4. 

Last month, the Trump administration tapped Palantir to help build a massive system to allow federal agencies to better share their data with each other, creating a huge database that will serve as a surveillance tool for the state. Palantir has also been angling to get involved with the U.S. Navy’s efforts to fast-track warship building.

Palantir has been the highest performing company on the S&P in 2025, with its stock price surging 80 percent this year alone. 

Given Miller’s involvement in Immigration and Customs Enforcement, his financial stake in Palantir should raise significant concerns over potential conflicts of interest. Should he direct an update of DHS’s digital systems, Palantir could stand as a likely beneficiary. 

Virginia Canter, chief counsel for ethics and anti-corruption at Democracy Defenders Fund, told POGO that Miller was walking a thin line. “If he hasn’t stepped over the line, he’s just on the verge of it,” Canter said. 

“I just don’t think anybody would be comfortable with him keeping this stock,” she added. 

Trump’s immigration crackdown is already sure to line the pockets of many surveillance and private prison companies—now it might make one of his closest advisers a pretty penny, too. 

A federal judge has indefinitely blocked the Trump administration’s ban on international students at Harvard University.

“At its root, this case is about core constitutional rights that must be safeguarded: freedom of thought, freedom of expression, and freedom of speech, each of which is a pillar of a functioning democracy and an essential hedge against authoritarianism,” Judge Allison D. Burroughs of the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts ruled on Monday. “Here, the government’s misplaced efforts to control a reputable academic institution and squelch diverse viewpoints seemingly because they are, in some instances, opposed to this Administration’s own views, threaten these rights.”

Trump ordered a 90-day suspension on international students at Harvard, claiming that the university was refusing to share information on students that were “known threats to other students or university personnel.” The decision left the status of countless students up in the air, as the school has nearly 7,000 international students, making up about 27 percent of the school’s student body. This is another installment of Trump’s war of attrition against Harvard and foreign students whom he perceives to be “anti-American.”