Hey everyone. Welcome back.
Our top story today: Karoline Leavitt is officially stepping down as White House press secretary at the end of the month. She has been the face of this administration’s shameless spin operation for over a year and a half, and now she’s out the door. And the names floating around to replace her sound as dubious, if not worse.
Here’s what we cover today: A military exercise in Germany exposes American brigade weakness’ against Ukrainian drones; Pete Hegseth shuts Democrats out of classified Pentagon briefings as he pleads with Congress for one and a half trillion dollars; the record-breaking sale of the Los Angeles Lakers to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger, and the election deniers who just won Republican nominations in swing states.
If you get something out of this show, like it, share it, and subscribe. It genuinely helps us grow and continue our mission of independent journalism.
Let’s get to it.
1. The Youngest Press Secretary in History Is Out
And for some reason, President Trump took it upon himself to announce it on Truth Social. Karoline Leavitt, who is twenty eight years old, will leave the White House at the end of August. Trump said she is vacating the role to spend more time with her family. It’s worth noting she had a baby in May and came back from maternity leave about a month ago. Trump added that she will become one of his top outside advisers, whatever that means.
Leavitt confirmed it herself, writing that she, “cannot be the best mom my two young children deserve while devoting the constant time, energy, and attention required of the White House Press Secretary.”
Being a parent is hard and deserves respect. But we also have to be honest about what that podium was used for on her watch. This was a briefing room of lies and of limiting the freedom of the press. And day after day, she stood there and sold it. And before doing so, she had the gall to pray with her entire staff as if her actions were morally justifiable.
Take a look at one of those prayer circles before she strutted out there and helped further the Epstein cover up for twenty minutes:
Thou shalt not lie, indeed.
And let’s not forget how weird Trump was whenever he referred to her. Clearly he was so amazed with her constant spin jobs that he couldn’t help himself. Take a look at the way he talked about her on a regular basis:
As for who comes next, there is no announcement yet. But the New York Post reports the early names include Alina Habba, deputy press secretary Anna Kelly, Katie Miller, and Kari Lake.
Karoline Leavitt’s job was to protect Trump from the truth, and whoever he picks next will probably be smoother at it. But don’t assume anything will change. Trump will always demand personal loyalty as the first, last, and only requirement for any job in his administration. So definitely do not expect this White House’s relationship with truth to change. That never will.
2. Ukraine Dominates U.S. in Drone-Based Military Exercise
This is a Wall Street Journal exclusive. During an exercise called Combined Resolve this spring, U.S. Army troops went head to head with Ukrainian drone operators, and it wasn’t close.
The Ukrainian reconnaissance drones spotted the American armored vehicles almost immediately. The dust plumes those vehicles kicked up made them easy to find from the air, and once they were found, the attack drones moved in to simulate kills. The Journal reported that the U.S. vehicles were eliminated so quickly that some had to be respawned just to keep the war game running.
To their credit, U.S. troops did adjust in later rounds. They dispersed, improved their camouflage, and leaned on electronic warfare.
This is a good thing that we’re doing. Ukraine is the leader in drone warfare and we could learn a thing or two from them. But it’s the hypocrisy of this administration that bothers me. Trump has treated Ukraine terribly, from publicly berating President Zelensky in the Oval Office, to holding up an appropriations package, to not wanting to sign a drone deal with them.
To be absolutely embarrassed in a simulated battle by the very drones we’re hesitating to buy, all because Trump knows his MAGA base hates supporting Ukraine, is humiliating. And, in the end, compromises our safety.
3. Hegseth Iced Democrats Out of Classified Briefings
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has reportedly excluded Democrats from at least two recent classified briefings on Capitol Hill, including one explaining the administration’s one and a half trillion dollar defense budget. That request is built around replenishing weapons stockpiles and investing in artificial intelligence to compete with China. Real threats and real money, but half the Senate is locked out of the room. Democrats were also shut out of classified briefings on the Caribbean boat strikes and decoy Air Force One flight. Even the routine bipartisan committee staff briefings, the kind that have been standard on the Hill for decades, have stopped.
Let’s be clear about how unusual this is. Classified access in Congress has never run on party. Democrats and Republicans on Armed Services get briefed together, and the most sensitive intelligence goes to the Gang of Eight, which is bipartisan by law and by design. And even Republican senators are calling it out: Mike Rounds says “the Democrat members need to be brought up to speed,” and Thom Tillis told Hegseth “you got to engage.” They are right. But this is exactly what they signed up for when they confirmed him, so forgive me if I hold the applause.
Hegseth and the White House are pushing Republicans to use reconciliation, the party line budget process, to fund the Iran war and much of the Pentagon increase without a single Democratic vote. But that can only carry so much. The rest of next year’s defense budget has to pass the regular way, with sixty votes, and Democrats have vowed to boycott those funding bills. Let’s hope they keep that fighting spirit.
Look, congressional oversight is not a courtesy, it is how a military stays accountable to the country that pays for it. A Pentagon that briefs only its friends is not stronger. It is weaker, less accountable, and less trusted, and it only hurts the troops who serve and the Americans who pay.
4. A Kushner Buys The Lakers. Yes, those Lakers.
Yesterday the Los Angeles Lakers were sold to Josh Kushner, the younger brother of Jared, and former Disney CEO Bob Iger for twelve and a half billion dollars. That is the most expensive purchase of an American sports franchise ever.
Now, you may remember the younger Kushner from another story we covered two weeks ago. He was the money behind FIFA’s plan to sell off a stake in the World Cup’s commercial rights, the deal that collapsed within days after European soccer threatened a boycott and Infantino’s own people quit over it, with Trump’s shadow hanging over the whole thing.
So the World Cup deal blew up in his face, and he pivoted to the most famous franchise in basketball instead. Just a little consolation prize.
And for any Lakers fan wondering how Kushner conducts his business, it seems like he follows the Trump family tradition of grifting. Back in 2021, a Maryland judge found that the real estate company he owned with his brother repeatedly violated the state’s consumer protection laws. Collecting debts without licenses. Hitting tenants with fees the law did not allow. Telling people apartments were in better shape than they were. Just last month, they were ordered to pay more than four million dollars to over seventeen thousand tenants who were charged illegal late fees.
But that’s the thing about this family. They always seem to avoid consequences. The judgments get paid, the deals get replaced, and the money keeps coming. For everyone else in this country, breaking the law has a price. For the Trumps, and in this case, the Kushners, it’s just part of business.
5. The Media is Focused on Democrat Primaries While GOP Election Deniers Are on the Ballot
Let’s talk about one of the biggest threats to democracy in the upcoming midterms: Election deniers running for positions that will eventually count votes and oversee our elections. This week, Tom Tiffany won the Republican nomination for governor of Wisconsin, and will be facing Democratic nominee David Crowley in November.
He has also been one of loudest advocates against validating the 2020 election. On January 6th, hours after the Capital insurrection, he voted against certifying results in Arizona and Pennsylvania, and he has said he would have voted to throw out Wisconsin’s results too. Here’s Tiffany stating that he’d discard his own constituents’ votes.
If Tiffany wins in November, he’ll have the power to appoint the state’s top election officials, meaning the people that actually run Wisconsin’s elections. Put an election denier in the governor’s mansion, and there are real concerns beyond him overturning an election outright. He just has to cast doubt in the system or allow others to get away with things they otherwise wouldn’t. And it’s not just Wisconsin. In Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Nevada, Republicans have nominated an election denier for governor, secretary of state, or both.
The good news is that an actual stolen election remains very unlikely. The real threat is the unnoticed, and extremely concerning, fear-mongering and complacency in the Republican officials. I was in the Capitol on January 6th. That was a real threat to the safety of our government, in reaction to an unfounded theory meant to scare people. And currently, there are 161 election deniers as sitting members of Congress.
Having free and fair elections is a pillar of democracy in America, and there are 143 congressional races with election deniers on the ballot. Pay attention to who’s running in your states, not just who’s running for president. Ask them one question– did Joe Biden win in 2020? The people representing you can either make your vote count, or discard it.
Some other stories that caught my eye:
President Trump was sued in federal court in Manhattan on Wednesday over Truth API, a service from his own media company that sells advance access to his Truth Social posts to paying subscribers, some paying up to $100,000 a month. More than a dozen customers, mostly high-frequency trading firms, have already signed up to get his market-moving posts milliseconds before the public does. The Intercept and the Freedom of the Press Foundation, who brought the suit, call the scheme “extraordinary, corrupt, and unconstitutional,” arguing the president is profiting personally from selling access to government information. That comes just hours after a senior adviser to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard publicly called on Congress to investigate Trump, his family, and aides including Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff over alleged war-related insider trading. Trump Media, which owns Truth Social, posted a $238 million net loss last quarter, and Trump remains its largest shareholder.
The Department of Homeland Security spent $464 million last fall on a no-bid contract to buy 10 used airplanes, saying they were urgently needed for deportation flights. Nearly a year later, seven of those planes, aging Boeing 737s, are still parked at an airport in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and three luxury jets from the same deal have mostly gone to other uses, including one leased out for FBI Director Kash Patel’s travel. DHS justified skipping competitive bidding by citing “unusual and compelling urgency,” the same authority it has used to award more than $29 billion in contracts without a bid. An internal government document says the department simply doesn’t have enough staff to fly the planes it bought, and the contract went to a Virginia firm with no prior federal experience whose chairman had donated to a political committee backing then-Secretary Kristi Noem.
