Supreme Court Gives Trump a Boost in Fight to Oust FTC Commissioner

The Supreme Court on Monday accepted an emergency request from President Donald Trump, allowing him to remove Democratic Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Slaughter as she challenges her ousting.

The president attempted to fire Slaughter in March, leading the commissioner to challenge the move as presidents may only legally remove FTC commissioners for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.”

A federal court in July blocked Slaughter’s removal, deeming Trump’s attempt “unlawful and without legal effect.” The ruling cited Supreme Court precedent in the 1935 case Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, which limited the president’s ability to remove officials from agencies such as the FTC.

The lower court’s decision was upheld by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which last week stated that Trump “has no likelihood of success on appeal given controlling and directly on point Supreme Court precedent.”

Nonetheless, the Trump administration has appealed, and as is its wont, sought emergency relief from the Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Roberts faithfully obliged—temporarily blocking Slaughter’s reinstatement as her case progresses.

President Donald Trump’s Truth Social posts are like a box of chocolates: You never know what you’re gonna get.

On Monday, the president came for beloved actor Tom Hanks, celebrating the fact that West Point canceled a ceremony meant to honor the actor.

“We don’t need destructive, WOKE recipients getting our cherished American Awards!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social.

The military academy’s alumni association was set to bestow upon Hanks the prestigious Sylvanus Thayer Award for his advocacy work and multiple on-screen portrayals of service members. But for reasons that remain unclear, they canceled the festivities meant to honor him at the last minute.

“This decision allows the Academy to continue its focus on its core mission of preparing cadets to lead, fight, and win as officers in the world’s most lethal force, the United States Army,” wrote Mark Bieger, president and chief executive officer of the West Point Association of Graduates, in an email that was obtained by The Washington Post.

Hanks has been a public supporter of former President Joe Biden. The actor narrated a video marking one year of Biden’s presidency in 2022, and recently portrayed a Trump supporter on Saturday Night Live as a racist who refused to shake cast member Keenan Thompson’s hand.

Luckily, Hanks can take comfort in his two Oscars, seven Emmys, five Golden Globes, and four Tonys.

On Friday, House Speaker Mike Johnson told the world that President Donald Trump was actually an FBI informant collecting intelligence on Epstein, absolving him of any criminality. On Sunday, he admitted that he lied. 

“[Trump] has never said or suggested or implied—I’ve talked to him about this many times, many times. He is horrified. It’s been misrepresented. He’s not saying that what Epstein did is a hoax. It’s a terrible, unspeakable evil. He believes that himself,” Johnson told reporters Friday. “When he first heard the rumor, he kicked him out of Mar-a-Lago. He was an FBI informant to try to take this stuff down.”

Johnson’s comment, made very casually, lit up the airwaves. 

“No officer i am an fbi informant tasked with smoking this weed,” one user posted ironically. 

On Sunday, Johnson changed his story. 

“The Speaker is reiterating what the victims’ attorney said, which is that Donald Trump—who kicked Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago—was the only one more than a decade ago willing to help prosecutors expose Epstein for being a disgusting child predator,” Johnson’s office wrote in a statement to The Washington Post. 

There’s a big difference between being “willing to help prosecutors” and being an actual FBI informant, which is exactly what Johnson said while surrounded by cameras and reporters. 

The speaker shouldn’t be let off the hook so easily for such an absurd comment. The sitting president is only implicated in the case of a serial sexual abuser because he was acting as an informant for the FBI? Did Johnson expect us to think Trump was wearing a wire while he was hanging out with Epstein in the 1990s? And for him to introduce and walk back such a massive lie so offhandedly speaks to the ridiculous amount of deceit that is commonplace in this administration.  

The Trump administration has handled the Epstein case with lies from the jump, back when Attorney General Pam Bondi said she had the Epstein files on her desk. Now we have the House speaker defending a president who thinks this is all a hoax, by promoting him to the level of secret agent. 

“It was a fantastical story for about a day,” said GOP Representative Thomas Massie, who is leading the bipartisan discharge petition to force the release of the Epstein files in full. “What compelled (former career attorney) Mike Johnson to claim the President was an FBI informant?”

President Donald Trump is stealing credit for infrastructure improvements achieved under Biden-era legislation he actively sought to sabotage.

The New York Times reports that signs emblazoned with the words “PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP” and “REBUILDING AMERICA’S INFRASTRUCTURE” are popping up across the country at improvement projects financed by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (perhaps better known as Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law), which passed against Trump’s best efforts in 2021.

As Trump was seeking to derail the legislation, he called it a “loser” for the country.

“Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill is a disgrace,” he said in August 2021 before a Senate vote on the bill, warning that Republican lawmakers who supported it would be committing political suicide. After it passed Congress, he referred to it as a “terrible Democrat Socialist Infrastructure Plan.”

Now Trump appears happy to claim Biden’s achievement as his own. The only indication on the signs pointing to the truth is smaller text noting the project was “funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.”

An Amtrak spokesperson told the Times that the signs currently appear at sites in Connecticut, Maryland, Boston, and Philadelphia, as well as on a Baltimore-to-Washington, D.C., Amtrak route, as part of a “voluntary Amtrak initiative” to update signage “following the change in presidential administrations earlier this year.”

When Biden’s bill passed, the then president claimed credit for its achievements with signs bearing the words “Project Funded By President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.” Republicans were outraged at the time but are curiously quiet now. According to the Times, Senator Ted Cruz, who accused Biden of running afoul of the Hatch Act for his signs, “did not respond to an email asking whether the Trump signs might also violate the Hatch Act.”

Numerous Republicans who voted against the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act have, since its passage, taken credit for its results. For example, Representative Nancy Mace—despite voting “no” on the bill, which she called a “socialist wish list”—has since falsely said she “helped secure the largest infrastructure grant in state history, in South Carolina history.”

Similarly, when the Trump administration took over Union Station last month, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy touted rail improvements made possible by Biden’s legislation as part of Trump’s effort to “Make Travel Great again.”

A peace vigil that’s over 40 years old has been dismantled on President Donald Trump’s orders.

The vigil, which stood in Lafayette Park near the White House, was composed of a blue tent surrounded by signs that read things like, “War is Not the Answer” and “Stop Genocide in Gaza.” Erected in 1981, it was widely regarded as the longest-running protest vigil in U.S. history, according to PBS, until the Trump administration removed it on Sunday.

The president was first made aware of the tent on Friday, when Brian Glenn, a reporter from Real America’s Voice, brought it to his attention.

While the tent had originally been constructed to promote nuclear disarmament, Glenn claimed that it had “kind of morphed into a kind of anti-America, sometimes anti-Trump” tent.

And of course, the president couldn’t stand for that.

“Take it down. Take it down, today. Right now,” he said. “Nobody told me that.”

The move is part of Trump’s ongoing efforts to clear homeless encampments around the city. But Philipos Melaku-Bello, a volunteer who has staffed the vigil for years, said that this outpost fell outside those bounds.

“The difference between an encampment and a vigil is that an encampment is where homeless people live,” Melaku-Bello told the AP. “As you can see, I don’t have a bed. I have signs and it is covered by the First Amendment right to freedom of speech, and freedom of expression.”

Glenn, the reporter, claimed that he’d heard reports that there were rats at the vigil, that people were sleeping and eating in the tent, and that it could be a “national security risk” because people could hide weapons inside.

According to Melaku-Bello, no weapons were found in the tent, and neither were any rats. “Not a single rat came out as they took down the cinder blocks,” he said.

Hopefully now the president can sleep soundly, knowing that there’s one less peace vigil out there.

President Donald Trump is demanding foreign companies hire American workers after hundreds of South Korean workers were detained in a massive immigration raid at a Hyundai plant in Georgia.

Writing on Truth Social Monday morning, Trump addressed foreign companies directly.

“Following the Immigration Enforcement Operation on the Hyundai Battery Plant in Georgia, I am hereby calling on all Foreign Companies investing in the United States to please respect our Nation’s Immigration Laws,” he wrote. “Your Investments are welcome, and we encourage you to LEGALLY bring your very smart people, with great technical talent, to build World Class products, and we will make it quickly and legally possible for you to do so. What we ask in return is that you hire and train American Workers.”

About 300 South Koreans were among the 475 people who were arrested Thursday at a Georgia plant manufacturing batteries for electric vehicles operated by Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution. The Department of Homeland Security touted the raid as the “largest single-site enforcement operation in the history of homeland security investigations.”

Seoul announced Sunday that the government had brokered a deal with the United States to return the workers to South Korea, pending the completion of some administrative procedures.

The South Korean government wasn’t too pleased that the Trump administration had detained scores of its citizens working abroad, and warned that the “economic activities of Korean investment companies and the rights and interests of Korean citizens must not be unfairly infringed upon during U.S. law enforcement operations.”

South Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo reportedly said that it was regrettable that the raid had taken place at “at a critical time, when the momentum of trust and cooperation” needed to be maintained between the U.S. and South Korea.

Trump has made efforts to court investments from multiple foreign companies, as part of his efforts to boost domestic manufacturing, but it seems that his hard-line immigration policies may put him at odds with the foreign governments.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told senior housing finance official Bill Pulte that he would punch him in his “fucking face” at a lavish private dinner party in D.C.  last Wednesday, according to Politico.

The party was for the grand opening of the Executive Branch, a new exclusive club in Georgetown marketed to the highest-profile members of the MAGAverse. It also served as the birthday venue for popular right-wing podcaster and donor Chamath Palihapitiya. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Small Business Administration head Kelly Loeffler, and Medicare and Medicaid chief Mehmet Oz were all in attendance. 

While it was unclear who started the altercation, Bessent certainly appeared to escalate it, pressing Pulte on rumors that he had been “bad-mouthing” Bessent to President Trump. 

“Why the fuck are you talking to the president about me? Fuck you,” Bessent said to Pulte. “I’m gonna punch you in your fucking face.”

Witnesses told Politico that Pulte looked “stunned” as club co-owner Omeed Malik tried to separate the two men. But Bessent wasn’t going quietly. 

“It’s either me or him,” Bessent told Malik. “You tell me who’s getting the fuck out of here. Or … we could go outside.”

“To do what?” Pulte replied. “To talk?”

“No,” Bessent said. “I’m going to fucking beat your ass.”

No one went outside. Bessent and Pulte were put at opposite ends of the 30-person long table, and the event continued without them coming to blows. But the beef likely isn’t going anywhere. Bessent has reportedly complained about Pulte overstepping boundaries and taking work away from him for some time, according to Politico sources. Additionally, Pulte is very close with Lutnick, with whom Bessent has formed a sort of finance-guy rivalry. 

More than anything, this event is yet another example of the raised levels of tension and testosterone in this administration. And this isn’t the first time Bessent has gotten in someone’s face. Recall that in May, Bessent brawled with Elon Musk when the billionaire tried to force through his pick for IRS head—Gary Shapley—behind Bessent’s back.

“Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!” Bessent reportedly shouted at Musk then, as the two men nearly came to blows as they screamed at one another while walking through the halls of the White House. (Musk eventually lost this battle, as Shapley lasted less than three days before Bessent chose Michael Faulkender to replace him.)

Musk is gone (for now), but Bessent is still here, and he’s on edge, this time due to communication lapses and lack of trust, which likely won’t dissipate anytime soon. 

Bessent, Pulte, the Executive Branch Club, and the White House have all declined to comment. 

Donald Trump, 79, was spotted Sunday at the U.S. Open men’s final taking a mystery tablet, leaving social media abuzz with speculation. Argentinian photographer Andres Kudacki captured the moment, in which the president bared his teeth and revealed what appeared to be a light-blue tablet between them.

Some social media users believe the object is a breath mint, with many identifying sugar-free, wintergreen-flavored Altoids as a possible culprit.

But many websleuths have suggested that the president was taking a prescription medication—with a popular guess being that Trump’s little blue pill was, well, a “little blue pill,” i.e., the erectile dysfunction medication sildenafil, sold commonly under the brand name Viagra, which can also treat high blood pressure in the lungs. Others are pointing to Adderall, the stimulant used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and narcolepsy.

According to a recent medical report, the president takes two cholesterol medications, rosuvastatin (commonly light pink) and ezetimibe (typically white), as well as a daily aspirin.

The image comes as the president faces enduring scrutiny for his age and health.

Most recently, the back of Trump’s right hand has received significant attention, as perennial bruising, often poorly concealed with a smear of make-up, has appeared there frequently during his second term. The location of the injury has led some to suggest Trump has been receiving undisclosed intravenous treatment. Also, in July, photos of significant swelling in the president’s ankles forced the White House to reveal that the president has “a benign and common condition” called chronic venous insufficiency, which causes blood to pool in the ankles.

As for his frequently empurpled hand, the White House has dubiously attributed the bruise to frequent handshaking—despite it appearing on the portion of his hand subjected to the least pressure, if any, in a handshake.

President Trump has closed a very one-sided trade deal with Japan that just happens to give him an immense amount of power. 

Under the terms of the trade deal, Japan is expected to invest $550 billion in the United States in order to avoid the lofty retaliatory tariffs that Trump has set for it. Additionally, Japan has also agreed to let Trump decide where those billions go. The unpublished memo was signed by both countries on Wednesday, according to The Financial Times.

Trump initially levied 25 percent tariffs against Japan. He’ll now lower them to 15 percent, as long as Japan invests that $550 billion in his preferred projects before the 45-day deadline he’s imposed. If it doesn’t, the tariffs go back up to 25 percent. 

Assuming the deal is made, the U.S. and Japan would split whatever profit is generated from the deal until Japan pays off the investment. Then the U.S. will take 90 percent of the profit from that point.

This aligns with the recent trend of cash investments from some of our oldest allies in exchange for tariff protection deals. South Korea and the European Union have promised to invest massive amounts of funds, and U.S. chipmakers Nvidia and AMD plan to give the government a portion of the profit generated by their sales in China.  

The Japan trade deal comes as a federal appeals court this week dealt Trump a serious blow, ruling that the vast majority of his tariffs were illegal. 

CBS News has once again caved to President Donald Trump’s administration by offering up the journalistic integrity of Face the Nation, one of the longest-running television news broadcasts.

Freshly merged Paramount Skydance announced Friday that it would no longer air edited interviews on Face the Nation, after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem attacked the program for editing out her smears about Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

“This extra measure means the television audience will see the full, unedited interview on CBS and we will continue our practice of posting full transcripts and the unedited video online,” the company said in a statement.

Earlier this week, Noem complained that the show had removed a phrase referring to Abrego Garcia as a “known human smuggler, MS-13 gang member” and claiming that he’d solicited nude photographs from minors.

But Noem’s claims weren’t fit to air. The government has repeatedly failed to provide any evidence that Abrego Garcia was a member of a foreign gang. And a Tennessee magistrate judge ruled in June that the government’s other claims were an “impossibility” and that its evidence included “double hearsay.”

Paramount Skydance’s new policy transforms the Face the Nation newsroom into nothing more than a microphone for the Trump administration, stripping its own journalists of their editorial independence to report the facts.

The decision will likely allow guests’ grandstanding to go unchallenged and reduce host Margaret Brennan’s ability to push back against her interviewees or add essential context to their talking points. An official such as Noem has a tendency to present allegations as fact, and the Trump administration doesn’t seem to care about the difference.

This is just the latest in a long series of moves that demonstrate the rightward shift of Paramount Skydance and, by extension, CBS News. Earlier this week, it was reported that Paramount Skydance had nearly closed a deal to bring in a new news head: Bari Weiss, a bastion of the anti-woke movement.

And last month, the company canceled The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, whose titular host had called out the company for agreeing to pay a “big fat bribe” of $16 million to the Trump administration to settle a lawsuit over an edited 60 Minutes interview of failed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Many speculated that by winning the favor of the Trump administration, it had ensured the long-awaited merger between Paramount and Skydance would be allowed to proceed.