Democrat Immediately Shuts Down Trump’s Secret Iran Oil Mission Claims

President Donald Trump’s bizarre claim to have secretly moved more than 100 million barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz just got shut down by the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.

Trump announced Wednesday that he’d directed the military to conduct a “secret mission” to support the flow of energy through the essential trade passageway—as he struggled to justify the U.S. economy reaching its highest annual inflation rate in three years.

Speaking on CNN that night, Connecticut Representative Jim Himes, who serves as ranking member on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, dismissed the president’s claim.

“A lot of that is just flat out untrue,” Himes said.

“And remember the record here, right. This war was going to be over in a couple of days. For the last three months the Iranians have been two or three days, or maybe a week or two weeks away from striking a deal,” Himes said. “So, let’s just agree that the president has precisely zero credibility on anything that he says about the Iran war.

“But look, you don’t need to be an intelligence expert to understand that in the Strait of Hormuz, you’re not moving anything in secret. With a good pair of binoculars on either coast you can see what’s happening.”

Himes isn’t the only one calling B.S. on the president’s claims: Energy Secretary Chris Wright appeared not to have a clue what Trump was talking about, either.

When asked about the 100 million barrels of oil during a House committee hearing Wednesday, Wright appeared confused and said he was “unaware” of the operation.

“I do not think the president is lying, I think the president is talking casually about our efforts to stop the flow of Iranian oil,” Wright claimed, though Trump was clearly talking about oil that had made it out of the strait, not oil that had been blocked.

Donald Trump’s health has hit a new milestone.

The president’s latest examination at Walter Reed Medical Center on May 26 reportedly involved 22 specialists, reported The Washington Post. That puts Trump at a dozen specialists beyond the previous record held by George W. Bush, who once saw 10 specialists in one go.

The White House has not elaborated on exactly why Trump needed so many doctors. Trump officials told the Post that the unconventionally large medical team allowed for a “complete and preventive evaluation” of the president. White House physician Sean Barbabella commented that the assessment found Trump in “excellent health.”

“The involvement of multiple specialists reflects a comprehensive, multidisciplinary evaluation consistent with best practices for executive-level medical care,” the White House said in a statement.

Nonetheless, the figure has contributed to yet more intrigue about Trump’s health as he nears his eightieth birthday.

“It is an extraordinary number,” Jonathan Reiner, a longtime cardiologist for former Vice President Dick Cheney, told the Post. “What specialties do they represent? Why so many?”

Trump is the second-oldest man to ever serve as America’s commander in chief, and his increasingly erratic behavior has sparked global concern in recent weeks about his stability and judgement. The 79-year-old has spent hours at Walter Reed Medical Center on multiple occasions over the last nine months, fallen asleep during more than a dozen critical meetings, seemed lost and disoriented around foreign heads of state, frequently slurred his speech, and appeared with discolored and bruised skin on several occasions.

His behavior has also grown increasingly erratic, as he has thrown cheap and petty insults at members of the press, challenged longstanding U.S. alliances, and even taken jabs at the pope.

The American public is apparently wising up to Trump’s age: A Washington Post–ABC News–Ipsos poll released last month found that 59 percent of Americans do not believe that Trump has the mental acuity to lead the country.

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright was caught off guard Wednesday when he learned about President Trump’s statements earlier in the day about inflation and a “secret mission” on oil amid the war in Iran.

Democratic Representative Emilia Sykes grilled Wright during his testimony before the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, asking him if he loves inflation. Dumbfounded, Wright said that he loved Iran not being able to get a nuclear weapon, only for Sykes to press the question until Wright finally answered that he prefers lower inflation. Sykes then pointed out that Trump stated earlier in the day that he loves inflation.

Wright tried to put his best spin on Trump’s answer.

“He’s an entertaining, hyperbolic guy who’s done tremendous leadership, and on balance, he’s driving inflation down—” Wright said before Sykes cut him off, suggesting that Wright doesn’t love inflation, but Trump does. Then, Sykes asked Wright if he was aware that the U.S. was taking millions of barrels of gasoline from Iran.

Wright didn’t seem to understand, only for Sykes to press him again and then play audio of Trump claiming to be taking out “millions of barrels of oil.” Sykes then asked if Wright was aware of the U.S. seizing Iranian oil.

Wright finally replied that he was not, and Sykes then asked him if he thought the president was lying.

“Oh, no I do not think the president’s lying. I think the president’s talking casually about our efforts to stop the flow of Iranian oil—” Wright started, before Sykes cut in, asking if it was appropriate to speak casually about war in which 13 U.S. military servicemembers were killed.

After Wright defended Trump’s manner of speaking and said the country was better for it, Sykes laid the problem bare.

“[Trump] is clearly keeping you in the dark about what he is doing in Iran, and now you are sitting here in this committee unaware that the president just made an announcement about millions of barrels that they have taken from Iran and stated in that very, very clearly, people don’t know but now we get to know, but unfortunately, he sent you here and you didn’t know it. What is your response to that?” Sykes asked.

Wright paused, and said “I’m very proud to serve with president Trump. He’s been tremendous leadership in a time of great stress right now. I’m proud of what he’s doing, proud to be part of the team.”

Trump later claimed on Truth Social that the “secret mission” in Iran meant that more than 100 million barrels of oil had passed through the Strait of Hormuz, not coming from Iran directly. Still, it’s clear the energy secretary has no idea what’s going on.

Trump seems to be either experiencing cognitive decline, or keeping his Cabinet in the dark. In either case, it’s hard for the public to know exactly what’s going on when Trump’s advisers have to adapt their public comments on the fly to go with whatever incoherent thing the president has just said.

The FBI arrested eight “college-aged adults” connected to pro-Palestinian advocacy on the University of Michigan’s campus, on Wednesday morning.

FBI Director Kash Patel alleged that the group of arrestees, aged 21–28, “engaged in a coordinated campaign of violent, criminal acts,” including threatening notes, spray-painting “Intifada” and “Free Palestine” on people’s homes, breaking windows, and “throwing glass jars filled with chemicals while children slept inside.”

The defendants, most of whom studied or worked at the University of Michigan, were indicted by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. They face various charges, including federal counts of conspiracy to transmit threats, witness intimidation, and destruction of property to prevent seizure. The indictment alleges the group crossed the line into criminal activity in order to get the university to divest from Israel. They face between five to 20 years in prison.

A group of protesters coalesced around the courthouse that the eight defendants were taken to on Wednesday afternoon.

This is the most recent crackdown on pro-Palestinian advocacy from the administration.

“I’m sure in 50 years, the [University of Michigan] will be putting statues up to [the protesters] and saying how much they appreciated their courage in retrospect,” Michigan student James Johnson told MLive. “But right now, they’re being very cowardly at the very least.”

The eight charged are:

• Ahmet Kerem Korkaya, 28, of Milwaukee
• Alexander Matthew Sepulveda, 23, of Chicago
• Amatullah Aliasgar Hakim, 21, of Ann Arbor
• Colin Hunter Weger, 24, of Ann Arbor
• Jonathan Hongru Zou, 22, of Ann Arbor
• Mariam Muhammed Odeh, 24, of Dearborn
• Paige Elizabeth Feyock, 26, of Ann Arbor
• Zainab Aliasgar Hakim, 23, of Canton

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright admitted to Congress Wednesday that he made a false social media post about the Iran war in March.

While Wright testified before the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Democratic Representative Suhas Subramanyam asked him about a post he made in March on X “that the U.S. Navy had successfully escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz to ensure oil remains flowing through the global markets.”

“Was that true?” Subramanyam asked Wright, who admitted it was not.

“No. That was in error. It was not tweeted by me, but it was by my team that misunderstood something I said, but I take responsibility for it,” Wright said. Subramanyam then asked what he said to his team that was misunderstood.

Wright claimed that he said at a talk in Colorado that the U.S. would restore oil flow from the Strait of Hormuz. Subramanyam then questioned Wright’s claim on Tuesday that traffic is rising “meaningfully” through the strait. What that actually means was a point of contention between Wright and Subramanyam, as Wright would not give any specific numbers about how many barrels of oil were flowing.

Oil prices plummeted and stocks jumped soon after Wright’s erroneous post in March, which he deleted after sending the markets into a tailspin.

The oil that is leaving the Persian Gulf these days isn’t thanks to the U.S. Some of it may be due to oil tankers turning off their transponders, or through other means, such as a Saudi pipeline that flows east toward the Red Sea port of Yanbu. Meanwhile, the Strait of Hormuz remains under Iranian control, and peace talks between Iran and the U.S. seem to be stagnant despite Trump trying to claim that a deal is close.