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“Absurd”: Michigan Flat-Out Rejects Trump Demand for Ballots

The Trump administration is escalating its quest for election records ahead of what’s expected to be a very tough midterm for Republicans.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel speaks into a microphone
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Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel in 2022

The Trump administration was rebuffed by the state of Michigan Sunday after it tried to demand Detroit-area ballots from the 2024 election.

Last week, the Department of Justice sent a letter, signed by Assistant Attorney General ⁠Harmeet Dhillon, to the clerk of Wayne County, where Detroit is located. The letter demanded election ballots, ballot receipts, and ballot envelopes from the last presidential election, according to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.

In a joint statement with Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Nessel called the request “as absurd as it is baseless.”

“Once again, President Trump is weaponizing the Justice Department in an attempt to sabotage our democratic process and turn it into his own personal agency to interfere in state elections,” Nessel said in the statement. “If this administration ​wants to bring this circus to our state, my office is prepared to protect the people’s right to vote.”

It’s the latest of many attempts by the Trump administration to demand voter and election information from states across the country, ostensibly to look for evidence of fraud. Administration officials have sought election data from every state and Washington, D.C., suffering legal setbacks in Rhode Island, California, Massachusetts, and Oregon.

President Trump continues to insist that the 2020 election was stolen from him, despite a lack of evidence and multiple court losses. FBI Director Kash Patel claimed in a Fox News interview Sunday that arrests over the 2020 elections are coming “this week,” a sign that Trump’s underlings are trying to drum up a justification for him to mess with the midterms in November and possibly beyond that.

Kash Patel Sues The Atlantic Over Report That He’s Always Drunk

A former official said Patel is “rightly paranoid” that he could lose his job at any minute—and the FBI director is furious that The Atlantic published a story about it.

FBI Director Kash Patel leans forward and puts his head in his hand during a congressional hearing.
Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg/Getty Images

FBI Director Kash Patel filed a $250 million defamation suit against The Atlantic Monday, after a sweeping report detailing his excessive drinking and unexplained absences.

In a 19-page filing, lawyers for Patel alleged that The Atlantic had published an “article replete with false and obviously fabricated allegations designed to destroy Director Patel’s reputation and drive him from office.”

The Atlantic’s Sarah Fitzpatrick reported over the weekend that Patel was known to drink in excess, routinely delayed meetings and time-sensitive operations, and was often unreachable, raising concerns about the potential for foreign coercion and other national security risks. His behavior had also grown increasingly erratic as he became worried he might lose his job.

The article referenced Patel’s “alcohol-fueled nights” in Washington and Las Vegas, which resulted in rescheduled meetings. The director’s “spotty attendance” in the office caused delays in time-sensitive decision-making. His “delays resulted in normally unflappable agents ‘losing their shit,’” Fitzpatrick wrote. Patel’s rather elusive behavior even prompted a request for actual “breaching equipment,” normally used by SWAT teams, because Patel had been unreachable behind locked doors.

The article also described a “freak out” earlier this month when, unable to log into his work computer in the morning, Patel made frantic phone calls claiming he’d been fired. In fact, it was a routine technical issue that was quickly resolved.

Patel had responded to the story by simply saying: “Print it, all false, I’ll see you in court—bring your checkbook.”

The lawsuit pointed to the reliance on anonymous sources who were merely “partisans with axes to grind,” as well as a lack of primary documentation, arguing that the article was “a deliberate and malicious smear.” Of course, the filing of his massive lawsuit now invites extensive discovery into Patel’s conduct.

In a statement Monday, The Atlantic said: “We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit.”

This story has been updated.

Trump Blocked From Iran War Plans After Screaming at Aides for Hours

Military officials have sidelined Donald Trump from planning the war he started.

Donald Trump speaking outside the White House
Graeme Sloan/Sipa/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Donald Trump’s erratic behavior has gotten him exiled from critical peace negotiations with Iran.

The president was removed from such talks by his own aides last month, who feared that his unpredictable style could hamper the discussions, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

The decision was informed by the president’s behavior during the search and rescue operation for the aircrew of the downed F-35 fighter jet late last month, when the president reportedly screamed at his aides for hours. As a result, his aides “kept the president out of the room as they got minute-by-minute updates because they believed his impatience wouldn’t be helpful, instead updating him at meaningful moments,” a senior administration official told the Journal.

Shortly after the second airman was recovered, the president was back to beating his chest. In a rapid-fire series of hair-raising Truth Social posts on Easter morning, Trump pledged he would completely annihilate Iranian civilization within a couple of days. He was reportedly under the impression that appearing unstable would spur Tehran to negotiate, according to the Journal.

But it wasn’t the first time during the sustained military offensive that Trump’s entourage decided the president would be best kept out of the action.

Around the same time, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles forced a meeting of Trump’s most trusted advisers. The problem: No one was being honest with the president about the domestic impact of the war.

Privately, Wiles had expressed fears that the inner circle’s rose-tinted retelling of the conflict would leave Trump oblivious to the political reality of the war, just months ahead of a contentious midterm season, reported Time magazine earlier this month.

Up until that point, Trump had been spoon-fed daily video compilations of various battlefield successes, a senior administration official told the publication. Trump was under the impression that stripping nuclear capabilities from Iran could be one of his greatest legacies as America’s 47th president.

The current conflict has gone on for more than seven weeks, surpassing the administration’s six-week deadline. In that timespan, the U.S. has lost access to a critical oil tradeway in the Middle East, tanked global oil markets, spiked the cost of living for people around the world, and agitated international relations—particularly between the U.S. and longtime allies in the Western hemisphere. It has also cost American taxpayers over $50 billion, and sparked a political rejection of MAGA ideology across the U.S.

The war has killed more than 3,375 people in Iran, state media reported Monday, and more than 2,290 people in Lebanon. It has also claimed the lives of 13 U.S. service members throughout the region.

MAGA Rep. Threatened to Call Pam Bondi to Block His Own Arrest

Washington police attempted to arrest Representative Cory Mills for alleged assault.

Representative Cory Mills speaks into a microphone
David Dee Delgado/Getty Images

Florida Representative Cory Mills threatened to call then-Attorney General Pam Bondi while he was being questioned by Washington police about an alleged assault.

Police body camera footage released to The Washington Post showed officers responding to a call from a woman accusing the MAGA lawmaker of physically assaulting her on February 19, 2025.

In the video, officers spoke to her in a hotel bar, where she appeared to be drinking. She tearfully showed the officer bruises on her arms and marks on her face. Then she appeared to receive a phone call from Mills before telling the officer, “He wants me to say” the marks on her body “were from our vacation and that I bruise easily.”

The video footage released to the Post also showed that when the police interviewed Mills about the incident, the lawmaker said he wanted to call Bondi and reached for his phone.

“I stepped toward you once; if I do it again it will be to put you in handcuffs,” said Richard Mazloom, the officer at the scene. “If I say don’t make a call, just don’t do it.”

At one point, Mills had said he feared the allegations would be “politicized because of my party,” according to footage and an affidavit seeking an arrest warrant. “It will be weaponized,” he said. “This is going to drag me through a quagmire.”

As the police continued to speak with Mills, the woman returned, claiming she had been mistaken about the assault. The top-ranking officer on the scene moved to classify the incident as a domestic disturbance.

This incident is the subject of a sweeping House Ethics Committee investigation into Mills that began in November, after his ex-girlfriend alleged that he had threatened to blackmail her using sexually explicit images of her and to commit violence against her future romantic partners. The Post did not identify the woman in the video, so it is unclear if she the same woman who accused Mills of blackmail.

The Post’s reporting also comes as Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell and Republican Representative Tony Gonzalez have both resigned after facing House investigations into sexual assault allegations against them.

Trump Derails His Own Ceasefire Talks With Iran

Iran is refusing to join the next round of talks as the ceasefire is set to expire.

President Donald Trump aboard Air Force One
Win McNamee/Getty Images

Iran says it won’t be participating in negotiations with the U.S. after it seized an Iranian cargo ship near the Strait of Hormuz.

“While claiming diplomacy and readiness for negotiations, the U.S. is carrying out behaviors that do not in any way indicate seriousness in pursuing a diplomatic process,” said Esmaeil Baghaei, a spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, on Monday, saying that the U.S. “violated the ceasefire from the beginning of its implementation.”

President Trump bragged on Truth Social Sunday that the Navy destroyer USS Spruance intercepted the Iranian cargo ship Touska in the Gulf of Oman, claiming that the U.S. “stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engine room.” The ship has been captured by the Marines, and Trump said it is under Treasury sanctions for “illegal activity.”

The two-week ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. is set to expire on Wednesday, and a senior Iranian source told Reuters that the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports was undermining the prospect of negotiations, and that Iran’s “defensive capabilities,” including missiles, were not open for discussion.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is sending a delegation to Islamabad, Pakistan, including Vice President JD Vance, envoy Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Pakistan is deploying 20,000 police, paramilitary, and army personnel to secure the talks, but it could all be for nought if the ceasefire collapses and Iran refuses to take part in talks.

Trump Is Ditching His Biggest Supporter’s Birthday at Mar-a-Lago

Ronny Jackson went through all the trouble of hosting his birthday at Trump’s estate—and the president won’t even show up.

Representative Ronny Jackson gives a thumbs up and smiles
Brendan SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images
Representative Ronny Jackson

President Donald Trump is snubbing the Republican congressman who used to be his personal physician by not attending his birthday party at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump posted on Truth Social Friday afternoon that he will not be attending Representative Ronny Jackson’s birthday party in the evening, as he is speaking at a Turning Point USA event in Arizona instead. Trump insisted that the move was not personal, praising Jackson as a politician and a doctor.

“He is a good friend, 100% MAGA, and one of the most talented Medical Doctors and Politicians in our Country. HAPPY BIRTHDAY RONNY!” Trump posted, concluding the long post by saying, “Ronny Jackson is a fighter and WINNER, and has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election. HE IS ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITES, AND WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

It’s funny that Jackson, who has quite a close relationship with the president, went through all the trouble of celebrating his birthday at Trump’s personal estate, only for him not to even show up.

A series of scandals during Trump’s first term, including giving White House staffers easy access to pills, eventually cost Jackson his job as Trump’s doctor and a Cabinet nomination to be secretary of veterans affairs. But he then got a lifeline when Trump created a new position just for him in the White House: assistant to the president and chief medical adviser. Jackson used his proximity to Trump to run for Congress and win in 2020, but now he can’t even get Trump to show up to his birthday party at Trump’s own home.

Israel Strikes Lebanon After Trump Says Bombing Is “Prohibited”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reportedly shocked by Trump’s warning.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Ilia YEFIMOVICH/AFP/Getty Images

Israel has technically already violated the 10-day ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, killing someone with a drone on Friday minutes after President Trump declared they were “PROHIBITED” from bombing Lebanon.

“The Hezboolah situation in an appropriate manner. Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday morning. “They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the U.S.A. Enough is enough!!! Thank you!”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his team were shocked by the language in the post, Axios reported, believing it violated the ceasefire agreement. The text of that deal allows Israel to take military action “in self-defense, at any time, against planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks.”

Israel claims that their bombing was defensive, making it within the realm of the ceasefire that was struck on Thursday, and came after six weeks of war in which Israel killed over 2,000 Lebanese civilians and displaced over one million. Israel is no stranger to breaking ceasefire agreements, as they have killed at least 766 Palestinians and injured over 2,000 in the Gaza Strip since that ceasefire was declared in October.

RFK Jr. Says Every Person Who Lost Health Insurance Is Illegal

The health secretary apparently has no remorse about anyone who’s lost their insurance in the last year thanks to Trump’s cuts.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in a congressional hearing
Heather Diehl/Getty Images

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had a callous and wildly inaccurate response to a question about millions of Americans losing their health insurance at a congressional hearing Friday.

The secretary of health and human services was testifying before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, and was asked by Democratic Representative Greg Casar if he had “met with any of the 1.4 million people who have lost their health insurance just this last year from dropping off of Obamacare.”

Kennedy was unmoved by the question.

“They’re almost all illegal immigrants,” Kennedy responded. Casar pressed further, saying it sounded like Kennedy hadn’t met with anyone, referring to one person in his congressional district who lost insurance. Kennedy cut in.

“We found 1.5 million illegal immigrants illegally collecting Medicaid,” Kennedy said, before Casar interjected and noted that people in his district saw their monthly health insurance costs skyrocket by hundreds of dollars, including mothers and kids. He again asked Kennedy whether he had spoken to anyone who had lost their insurance, and Kennedy tried to claim that Affordable Care Act costs are lower for many Americans. Casar’s time for questioning then ran out.

“Chairman, it sounds like he’s met with nobody and been able to explain to them why it’s OK that this policy kicks them off their healthcare,” Casar concluded, addressing Tim Wahlberg, the committee chair.

Undocumented immigrants have never been eligible for health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act. In January, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which RFK Jr. oversees as health secretary, reported that 1.4 million fewer Americans had signed up for ACA plans because prices had gotten too high. That’s all thanks to Republicans and the Trump administration letting ACA subsidies expire. Kennedy doesn’t seem to care.

DOJ Boots Prosecutor From Trump Revenge Probe After She Shared Doubts

The lead prosecutor on the investigation into former CIA Director John Brennan expressed doubts about the case’s viability.

Former CIA Director John Brennan walks
Alex Wong/Getty Images
Former CIA Director John Brennan

A top Department of Justice official was removed Friday from an investigation into former CIA Director John Brennan after she reportedly expressed doubts about the probe.

Maria Medetis Long, chief of the national security section for the U.S. attorney’s office in Miami, notified attorneys working on the probe that she would no longer handle the case moving forward, people familiar with the matter told CNN.

Two sources told ABC News that Medetis Long had expressed doubts about the investigation. The prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida are looking into allegations that Brennan lied to Congress about his role in crafting an intelligence assessment about Russian efforts to interfere on behalf of Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

Some attorneys were surprised by the news, sources said, because there were additional interviews scheduled in the coming days as the department weighed whether to bring charges against Brennan.

The U.S. attorney’s office in southern Florida issued 30 subpoenas to individuals, including Brennan and other former intelligence officials, as part of a sprawling conspiracy investigation into Trump’s perceived political enemies. Those cases are set to land on the desk of the same judge who handed the president his get-out-of-jail-free card back in July 2024: Aileen Cannon.

Asked about the move, a Justice Department spokesperson said, “As a matter of routine practice, attorneys are moved around on cases so offices can most effectively allocate resources. It is completely healthy and normal to change members of legal teams.”

Caitlyn Jenner Begs Trump for Help Changing Passport Gender

Trans Americans have been suffering under Donald Trump since the very beginning. Caitlyn Jenner has finally realized she’s no exception.

Caitlyn Jenner with her eyes closed
David McNew/Getty Images
Caitlyn Jenner in 2021

Caitlyn Jenner, perhaps the most prominent transgender Trump supporter around, made a public appeal to President Trump, begging him to reconsider his executive order requiring passports to only offer options for male and female—and match the gender the passport holder was assigned at birth.

Jenner lamented her status earlier this month on the Tomi Lahren is Fearless podcast.

“I love President Trump. And I think he signed this executive order.... I don’t know who underneath him was putting this thing together—that all federal documents, it has to be your biological sex at birth,” Jenner said, absolving the president. “Recently I had my passport, I had to get it renewed. I sent it back. [It] comes back, gender marker ‘M.’ Screws everything up.”

She went on to note that she tried multiple different avenues to remedy the situation, even sending in her female birth certificate, but to no avail.

“This is a safety factor, OK? I can’t travel internationally anymore.... I don’t blame President Trump, I love him. But for a lot of people this is a huge issue.... I don’t know what’s gonna happen because I don’t think this was really thought out, what this means—not just for the males-to-females.”

Jenner said she left a note for Trump with his Secret Service while visiting Mar-a-Lago two months ago, but still hasn’t heard back.

Trump signed the executive order in January 2025, and the Supreme Court upheld it in November, meaning many trans Americans are now dealing with the chaos.

Jenner is just the latest vocal Trump supporter to put her foot in her mouth. What exactly did she expect to happen when Trump made it clear more than a decade ago that the LGBTQ community would be a primary target? And how many trans rights organizations warned against the exact thing Jenner is now complaining about?