Ex-Bondi Aide Says MAGA Too Incompetent to Carry Out Trump’s Revenge

Do Donald Trump’s legal prosecutors know what they’re doing? According to the chief of staff for the former top MAGA prosecutor in the country: No, they really don’t.

As part of an article on Todd Blanche’s time as acting attorney general, CNN asked Chad Mizelle, Pam Bondi’s former chief of staff, why her “Weaponization Working Group”—which tried to investigate former government prosecutors Trump believed were politically motivated—never produced anything substantial.

“Part of the reason the weaponization work has been difficult is that you need people who are MAGA and who are really competent,” Mizelle said. “Many career prosecutors are not interested in this kind of work. It’s a very small group of people.”

Presumably this was said without a whiff of irony. The quote is a perfect encapsulation of one of the few joys one can take from our present political situation: Trump’s staff is simply too dumb to carry out most of their assignments.

Harmeet Dhillon, another Trump prosecutor who recently lost her fifth consecutive case trying to acquire a state’s voter rolls, gave CNN another doozy: “There are many prosecutors out there who are opposed to the president’s agenda and are not interested in doing the kinds of cases that are important to the White House.” Hmm, I wonder why.

Trump has weaponized the Department of Justice like no president before, using it almost exclusively to attack political enemies. CNN reports that doing this kind of work “took a toll on Bondi, who sources said believed that she was at times being asked to do the impossible.”

In fact, Bondi may have been unceremoniously fired because Trump believed she was going too soft on his enemies.

Bondi’s biggest failure in the eyes of the public was her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, in which the rollout of information on the convicted sex trafficker was repeatedly delayed. She told Fox early last year that Epstein’s client list was “on her desk”—before her department backtracked and said the list never existed.

After the files were released, some victims’ names were mistakenly left visible, while key information that might have actually led to some justice being done was redacted. No one has been arrested in the U.S. for involvement in Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring, even with tons of publicly available documents for use as evidence. And of course, there are also 2.5 million files that have not been released yet.

Blanche is continuing the Trump administration’s targeted legal agenda, releasing a report alleging that Biden’s DOJ was biased in persecuting anti-abortion protesters, and fighting to get a few Proud Boys off the hook for their January 6, 2021, actions. But like Bondi, he has not yet successfully prosecuted a high-profile Trump opponent. Long may the ineffectualness continue.

Employees at the Department of Homeland Security are weeks away from losing their paychecks.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told Fox News Tuesday that the agency’s funding has all but run dry, 66 days into the partial government shutdown.

Donald Trump signed a memorandum earlier this month that authorized the release of $10 billion in emergency funds from the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but that money will be gone by the first week of May. Mullin noted that between DHS’s 22 agencies, the department spends roughly $1.6 billion on wages every two weeks.

“So the money is going extremely fast, and once that happens, there is no emergency funds after that,” the DHS chief told Fox. “After we get through April … I’ve got one payroll left and there is no more emergency funds, so the president can’t do another executive order for us to use money because there’s no more money there.”

The only solution, according to Mullin, is for Congress to pass another funding bill. Republicans and Democrats have been in a stalemate for months, unable to reach a bipartisan consensus on how to fund DHS without tackling the myriad recent abuses by two of the department’s subagencies: Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.

Shortly after federal agents killed Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, Democrats demanded 10 reforms to the two agencies as a prerequisite for ongoing funding negotiations. Those demands included line items that required agents to identify themselves, take off their masks, and obtain judicial warrants before forcing their way onto private property. Republicans refused.

The conservative caucus, however, is attempting to put forward a new funding package that would address DHS’s financial straits without diverting additional funds toward ICE and CBP. Last year, the two agencies independently received a total of $170 billion in Trump’s “big, beautiful bill”—more than five times their 2024 allotment.

President Trump announced an indefinite extension to his ceasefire with Iran Tuesday as it became evident that peace talks between the two countries were on the brink of collapse.

“Based on the fact that the Government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so and, upon the request of Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, of Pakistan, we have been asked to hold our Attack on the Country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I have therefore directed our Military to continue the Blockade and, in all other respects, remain ready and able, and will therefore extend the Ceasefire until such time as their proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded, one way or the other.”

The announcement came shortly after Vice President JD Vance suspended his travel plans to Islamabad Tuesday to represent the United States at the table. One source told The Wall Street Journal that Vance pulled out because Iranian negotiators hadn’t committed to showing up to the meeting. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei confirmed as much, telling Iranian state broadcaster IRIB that the meeting was called off due to “contradictory messages, inconsistent behavior and unacceptable actions by the American side.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi added that the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is an “act of war” and a violation of the ceasefire.

Trump has previously noted that the United States is prepared to simply continue bombing Iran again if no deal is reached, but his latest announcement shows he may be ready to admit he doesn’t hold all the cards here. Meanwhile, the U.S. has accomplished nothing since the war began, as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed and the Iranian government remains unwilling to concede on its enriched uranium.

This story has been updated.

Florida became the first state to criminally investigate an AI model on Tuesday, and Attorney General James Uthmeier’s charges could lead to big changes in how the technology is regulated.

Uthmeier, a Republican, launched a criminal probe into ChatGPT and its parent company, OpenAI, following a mass shooting at Florida State University that took place in April 2025.

Two people died, and six others were injured in the shooting, including at least one student. All of those injured have since been released from hospital, and the suspect, 20-year-old FSU student Phoenix Ikner, is in custody.

Prosecutors reviewed Ikner’s devices and claimed he spoke to the chatbot extensively. While Ikner does not appear to have been driven into “AI psychosis,” as some mentally unstable individuals have, he allegedly talked to the chatbot multiple times about the shooting.

ChatGPT “offered significant advice to the shooter before he committed such heinous crimes,” Uthmeier said. One message involved the suspect quizzing ChatGPT about a gun’s power at close range, and which ammunition was needed to load it.

On the day of the crime, Ikner allegedly asked the chatbot how America would react to a shooting at Florida State, and when the most crowded time was at the student union, the area of the campus where the shooting took place.

“If this were a person on the other end of the screen, we would be charging them with murder,” Uthmeier said at a press conference.

While Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis isn’t exactly a favorite of the left, he has been at the forefront of state AI regulation. DeSantis has asked the state legislature to come up with legal AI guardrails in a special session next week.

But the country’s executive branch has taken the opposite stance. President Donald Trump has pushed to deregulate AI and force states to comply with federal policy. We’ll see which GOP sect ends up victorious, but Florida’s leadership on the issue is a welcome development.

The U.S. has significantly depleted its missile reserve during its war with Iran, sparking concerns that the military could be caught empty-handed if another conflict arises in the next few years.

The Pentagon has used at least 45 percent of its Precision Strike Missile stockpile, at least half of its THAAD missiles, and nearly 50 percent of its Patriot air defense interceptor missiles, according to a report published Tuesday by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The number of missiles that remain are expected to be enough to continue the war in Iran, even if peace negotiations fall apart, but they are too diminished to thwart another major world power, such as China.

“The high munitions expenditures have created a window of increased vulnerability in the western Pacific,” Mark Cancian, a retired U.S. Marine Corps Colonel and a CSIS report author, told CNN. “It will take one to four years to replenish these inventories and several years after that to expand them to where they need to be.”

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told CNN that the military “has everything it needs to execute at the time and place of the President’s choosing.”

“Since President Trump took office, we have executed multiple successful operations across combatant commands while ensuring the U.S. military possesses a deep arsenal of capabilities to protect our people and our interests,” Parnell said.

The war with Iran is currently in its seventh week, but Defense Department officials first raised concerns about America’s missile supply more than a month ago. In a closed-door meeting with lawmakers on March 3, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine reportedly said that Iran’s Shahed attack drones had proved a more difficult problem than initially predicted. One source told CNN in early March that the U.S. has been “burning” through long-range precision-guided missiles in order to fend off the drones.

Shortly afterward, European Union defense officials warned that the U.S. would no longer be capable of supplying missiles to its allies amid the war with Iran, stressing that the continent would need to develop its own missile manufacturing sector in order to adequately fill its supply without Washington’s help.

But the reality has not aligned with the White House’s rhetoric. Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that the U.S. has a “virtually unlimited” supply of missiles, capable of attacking Iran “forever.” Nonetheless, his administration has placed orders with private contractors in order to replenish America’s stockpiles, though some weapons reserves are expected to take years before they return to prewar levels.

Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego should be commended for some excellent fact-checking of Trump crony Kevin Warsh on Tuesday.

Warsh is Trump’s pick to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve after Jerome Powell’s term expires in May. During Warsh’s Senate committee confirmation hearing, Gallego tried to suss out whether Warsh was going to put the president’s political interests ahead of the country’s economic health.

“Earlier today, you said to Senator [John] Kennedy that President Trump never demanded you to cut interest rates in your job interview. Is that your sworn testimony?” Gallego asked.

“That is, Senator,” Warsh said.

“Well, someone here is lying, then,” Gallego replied. “It’s either you or President Trump. Because in an interview with The Wall Street Journal of December 12, President Trump confirmed he pressed you on your commitment to support interest rate cuts.”

Gallego helpfully cited the Journal article for Warsh: “During a 45-minute meeting … the president pressed Warsh on whether he could trust him to support interest-rate cuts if he were chosen to lead the central bank, according to people familiar with the meeting. Trump, in the Journal interview, confirmed that reporting.”

Warsh responded by claiming the reporters who wrote the story—Meridith McGraw, Nick Timiraos, and Brian Schwartz—were fibbing:

“Senator, there’s, of course, a third alternative. You cite a couple of reporters for a leading financial newspaper.… I think those reporters either need better sources, or better journalistic standards.”

Of course, the cited “source” here is Trump himself, which Gallego pointed out, asking if that meant Warsh thought Trump was lying. Warsh began to reply before Gallego unfortunately cut him off and moved on. Gallego did ask Warsh what he would say if the Journal verified all of its reporting, to which Warsh repeated the same unsatisfying point about journalists needing better sources and standards.

Warsh has previously worked on Wall Street, as an economic adviser in the George W. Bush administration, and as a Fed governor from 2006 to 2011. With a net worth in the hundreds of millions, he would be the richest Fed chair ever, which feels fitting for a presidency that seems to be about the rich laughing in the face of working Americans as much as possible.

Trump would love to see a Powell replacement as soon as possible. Trump appointed the mild-mannered, bespectacled Powell in 2017, but Powell has since drawn the president’s ire by being boringly responsible and refusing to cut interest rates. Trump has even weaponized the Department of Justice by subpoenaing Powell over a federal building renovation (a judge tossed the lawsuit out).

In the face of mounting pressure, Powell has not wavered. His quiet resistance to the president has made him something of a cult hero among Democrats, who have crafted a few social media fancams in his honor.

President Trump and his MAGA coalition are beginning to panic as the threat of a successful Democratic redistricting vote on Tuesday in Virginia looms over them.

“This is what they’re going to be doing.… If [the Democrats] get additional House seats, at some point, if they get these additional seats they’re gonna be making changes at the federal levels,” Trump warned on a tele-rally call with Speaker Mike Johnson on Monday.

The ballot measure to redraw the congressional map could give the Democrats a greater chance to regain control of the House of Representatives, giving them potentially four more seats. Under the new map, Virginia Democrats could hold every House seat except for one.

That would in turn have massive implications for the president’s agenda, which he—and the rest of his supporters—are very concerned about.

Fox News’s Brit Hume lamented the effort as one not to ensure fairness but to “ensure Democrats have many more seats than they do now.”

MAGA muse Steve Bannon shared an even bleaker diagnosis.

“This is their plan.... Not just, are they going to take power and use these four seats to impeach Trump? But they’re going to use this as a template for the rest of the country. It’s coming,” Bannon said on the Monday episode of his War Room podcast. “These Democrats are demonic.… If they weren’t demonic, wouldn’t they show you the map? Wouldn’t they walk you through the logic?”

Each of these comments ignores that these redistricting wars started with Texas Republicans doing the bidding of Trump last year.

Polls close Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Democratic Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick resigned from the House Tuesday.

The move came just hours before the House Ethics Committee was supposed to announce sanctions against the Florida congresswoman, who allegedly took $5 million in Covid relief funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and funneled it into her campaign. She also purchased luxury items for herself, including a diamond ring. The committee found her guilty of 25 ethics violations, and she faces 15 federal indictments.  

In a statement posted on X, Cherfilus-McCormick attacked the committee for refusing her “new attorney’s reasonable request for time to prepare my new defense,” saying the process was unfair. 

“By going forward with this process while a criminal indictment is pending, the Committee prevented me from defending myself. I will not stand by and pretend that this has been anything other than a witch hunt. I simply cannot stand by and allow my due process rights to be trampled on, and my good name to be tarnished,” the statement said. 

Cherfilus-McCormick is the third member of Congress to resign in the last week, following fellow Democrat Eric Swalwell for numerous sexual misconduct allegations and Republican Tony Gonzales for explicit text messages sent to two former employees, one with whom he engaged in an affair who later committed suicide. 

Cherfilus-McCormick had sought a pardon from President Trump, approaching him at a White House Christmas party in December. Republican Representatives Nancy Mace and Greg Steube had each pushed for her expulsion. Mace and Republican Cory Mills also face Ethics Committee investigations, but have resisted calls for them to resign. 

This story has been updated.

Donald Trump is still not happy that his tariffs were struck down by the Supreme Court, and he said Tuesday that he would “remember” the companies that don’t seek refunds.

The president spoke to CNBC’s Squawk Box over the phone in a morning interview, and anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin asked him about large companies, such as Apple and Amazon, that haven’t sought tariff reimbursements because they were worried about “offending” the president.

“Would you find it offensive for them to try to collect a refund?” Sorkin asked Trump.

“I think it’s brilliant if they don’t do that. I actually think if they don’t do that, they got to know me very well. I’m very honored by what you just said. If they don’t do that, I’ll remember them,” Trump said, before going off on a tangent about the Supreme Court and birthright citizenship.

Trump’s words could be considered as a threat to companies that do seek refunds for the tariffs they paid, as would be their right under the Supreme Court’s ruling. Trump has praised companies whose executives have cozied up to him or donated large amounts of money to one of his personal projects, and has attacked those that he sees as disloyal to him or his agenda.

The president is explicitly saying that if businesses don’t ask for the money that they are legally owed for the tariffs, they will be in his good graces and can expect positive treatment from the White House. That is highly unethical and, from any other president, would be met with a huge backlash from Congress and media commentators. But since Trump has basically normalized corruption, he’s not likely to face any consequences.

Kevin Warsh, the man Donald Trump tapped to run the Federal Reserve, told Congress Tuesday that there’s only one detail that he and the president disagree on.

In the midst of a heated exchange with Senator Elizabeth Warren over his previous pledges to “stand up to Trump,” Warsh failed to name a single line item from the MAGA agenda with which he disagreed.

“Well, senator, the Federal Reserve in recent years has wandered outside of its remit, wandered into other areas,” said Warsh, dodging Warren’s question entirely.

“Just one. Just one little place where you disagree with Donald Trump,” pressed Warren.

“Well, I do have a disagreement, actually, senator, with the president. I think even this morning he said he thought that I was out of central casting. I think central casting—I’d look older, grayer, and maybe show up here with a cigar of sorts,” Warsh smirked.

“Quite adorable, but you know we need a Fed chair who is independent. That’s the only way we preserve the independence of the Federal Reserve,” Warren bit back. “If you can’t answer these questions, you don’t have the courage and you don’t have the independence.”

Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen similarly questioned Warsh’s chutzpah, citing his monetary policy record on the basis that Warsh’s positions on interest rates “seems to shift with what’s politically convenient, rather than based on sound economic judgment.”

Warsh’s name was a surprise mention late last year when Trump first began floating his replacements for Jerome Powell. Despite railing against Powell’s inflation rates for the better part of his second term, Trump tapped Warsh, another well-known inflation hawk who cut his teeth during the George W. Bush administration and later during the fallout of the Great Recession. But the 56-year-old financier has since changed his tune on the matter and, in doing so, has caught the president’s attention.

Trump has already made his expectations for Warsh crystal clear. Speaking with CNBC earlier Tuesday, Trump said that he would be disappointed if Warsh did not cut interest rates.

Warsh, in turn, made his loyalty clear during his Senate hearing. He refused to acknowledge that Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, in another apparent attempt to elevate himself to the Trump administration.

Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed ripped Warsh for his transparent affinity for Trump, directly questioning him about Trump’s comments on the business network. Warsh responded that he would maintain independence despite Trump’s pressure campaign to cut rates. Later, in an exchange with Senator John Kennedy, Warsh said that Trump had never asked him to “predetermine, commit, fix, decide on any interest rate decision in any of our discussions.”

“Nor would I ever agree to do so,” Warsh insisted.