Karoline Leavitt to Step Down as White House Press Secretary

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Karoline Leavitt to Step Down as White House Press Secretary

(Sarah Roderick-Fitch, The Center Square) White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt will be stepping down as the president’s top spokeswoman at the end of the month.

President Donald Trump indicated that Leavitt, the mother of two, was resigning from her role to spend more time with her growing family after recently returning from maternity leave following the birth of her daughter in May.

The president described Leavitt as one of his most “trusted aides,” adding that she will go on to serve as one of his “top outside advisors, and an influential voice within the Republican Party” heading into the midterm elections.

He added that the press secretary “has done a phenomenal job fighting for justice, liberty and freedom, since 2018.”

In a social media post Wednesday afternoon, Leavitt reflected on her tenure as press secretary, thanking the president for the opportunity to serve in the role.

“Serving as the White House Press Secretary over the past year and a half has been the honor and adventure of a lifetime. I am incredibly grateful to President Trump for granting me so many extraordinary opportunities, such as working in the West Wing,” Leavitt wrote.

She continued by describing her departure as a “bittersweet decision to depart the White House and embark on a new chapter” in her life.

Leavitt, 28, made history as the youngest press secretary in U.S. history when she stepped up to the podium in January 2025, serving as the first press secretary of Trump’s second term.

Prior to her stint at the White House, Leavitt worked as Trump’s national press secretary during his 2024 presidential campaign.

As of Wednesday afternoon, there is no word on a possible replacement for Leavitt.

Trump Claims the US Has ‘Total Control’ Over the Strait of Hormuz and May ‘Keep It’

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Trump Claims the US Has ‘Total Control’ Over the Strait of Hormuz and May ‘Keep It’

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) President Donald Trump claimed on Wednesday that the United States has “total control” over the Strait of Hormuz and may “keep it” despite Iran continuing to demonstrate its control of the waterway and engaging in negotiations with Oman on its future.

“The USA has total control over the Strait of Hormuz. I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT! Our Naval Blockade is being called, by everyone, ‘A WALL OF STEEL,’ and there is nothing Iran can do about it,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, one day after US forces bombed a ship allegedly attempting to get past the US blockade of Iranian ports.

“They have no Navy, they have no Air Force, their remaining soldiers are unpaid, the IRGC is decimated and fleeing, and their ‘Leadership’ is uncertain, at best! They have No Money – 

Their country is ‘shot.’ All they have is FAKE NEWS and 300% INFLATION, and getting worse! Iran is all talk and no action, the Bully of the Middle East No Longer. Praise be to Allah!” he added.

Trump’s post came as Reuters reported that traffic through the strait fell to a one-week low on Tuesday, with just eight ships transiting the waterway that day, below the recent average of 12 ships per day. Before the war, somewhere between 130 and 140 would cross the strait each day.

The report said that seven of the eight vessels entered the Persian Gulf through the strait on the side closer to Iran’s coast, suggesting they received Tehran’s permission to pass. 

According to media reports, the potential deal on the table between Iran and Oman would involve inbound vessels crossing the strait near Iran while outbound ships would transit near the Omani coast.

Iranian officials have said that a deal with Oman wouldn’t automatically open the strait to all traffic and have laid out several conditions for the US, which are essentially the same as those the US initially agreed to under the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding signed in June. Those conditions include the lifting of the US blockade on Iran, lifting sanctions, and an end to Israel’s war in Lebanon.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com. 

Report: Turkey Suspects Israel Fabricated Trump Assassination Plot To Derail US-Iran Diplomacy

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Report: Turkey Suspects Israel Fabricated Trump Assassination Plot To Derail US-Iran Diplomacy

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) Turkish officials suspect that an Israeli intelligence report about an Iranian plot to assassinate President Donald Trump at the NATO summit in Ankara last month was a ruse designed to derail diplomacy between the US and Iran, Middle East Eye reported on Tuesday.

The Washington Post first reported on Monday that the US thought there was a credible enough threat against Trump that he secretly swapped planes when he departed Turkey. The president flew into Ankara on a new version of Air Force One donated by Qatar, but made a public show of departing on the older Air Force One, saying he was doing so for “old time’s sake.”

According to the Post report, after boarding the older Air Force One, Trump was then moved to a third plane, an Air Force C-32A, via a catering truck. Some White House staffers and reporters on the older Air Force One thought President Trump was also onboard as they flew to the UK, making them unwitting decoys.

Missing from the Post report was where the intelligence about a plot against Trump came from. According to Middle East Eye and also a report from The Wall Street Journal, it came from Israel, which aligns with reports from the time.

Sources told MEE that the Israeli intelligence report warned that Iranian covert forces could target Air Force One at the airport in Ankara using shoulder-fired rockets, known as MANPADS, from just one kilometer away. Due to the alleged threat, the Secret Service moved the departure point from Ankara Airport to Esenboga Airport and wanted to switch from the new Air Force One to the old one.

“Of course, we took the report very seriously and tried to assist our American counterparts as much as possible,” a source, described as a person familiar with the matter, told MEE. “Yet it was very clear to us that there was no way this report was true.”

The report said Turkish officials believe that the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu devised the plot to make it appear that Israel was protecting Trump, further derail diplomacy between the US and Iran, and also strain relations between Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom the US president repeatedly praised during the summit. Israel has strongly opposed the idea of the US selling F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, something Trump has said he’s strongly considering.

Another source, described as an Ankara insider, told MEE that it was ironic that the Secret Service’s decision to move Trump has been leaked just one month after it happened. “I guess they need heroes for an attack that never happened and, most likely, was never planned,” the insider said.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.  

Docs: Intel Operation Labeled Top GOP Leaders Russian Disinformation ‘Conduits’

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Docs: Intel Operation Labeled Top GOP Leaders Russian Disinformation ‘Conduits’

(Sarah Roderick-Fitch, The Center Square) Newly declassified documents from the White House transparency task force reveal several top Republican and conservative figures were labeled “conduits” for Russian disinformation for their part in pushing for further investigations into allegations against the Bidens and ties to Ukraine.

The code name, Round River, which was an FBI counterintelligence operation as part of the bureau’s Foreign Influence Task Force leading up to the 2020 elections, was described by a White House official as a “counterintelligence operation” to “neutralize certain narratives,” including the investigation into Hunter Biden’s laptop and the Biden family’s ties to Ukraine’s Burisma Holdings.

The recently declassified documents identified several Republicans, including high-ranking officials, such as former Attorney General Bill Barr, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and the late Lindsey Graham, as conduits for Russian misinformation.

In contrast, the operation warned that figures like George Soros, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and former Secretary of State John Kerry are “targets” for Russian disinformation.

Another document released from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence under former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard in 2025 revealed that a team from Round River was tasked with identifying “confidential human source files” within the bureau and other intelligence agencies that had “derogatory information” on the Bidens, and would then “deem the information to be Russian disinformation.”

The ODNI concluded the FITF “did not go in and try to determine the merit of the allegations, or to examine if they were factually true, or consult with the agents working those informants. They simply designated them as foreign intelligence threats and designated their files as such,” according to a White House official.

In a letter to the White House transparency task force, FBI Director Kash Patel underscored that, under his leadership, he ended the FITF and its activities, and confirmed that the operation and its activities are currently under investigation by the FBI.

The White House official argues that “information learned from the Round River assessment was used to undermine or influence ongoing investigations by focusing only on a subset of confidential human sources that were reporting derogatory information on the Bidens.”

The Center Square inquired about the status and identities of those working within the FBI on the Round River operation. The White House official responded  that the “FBI is in the process of producing the documents” to answer those questions, including “who was involved” and “how high did it go?”

US Appellate Court Ends Biden-Era Mass Parole Programs

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US Appellate Court Ends Biden-Era Mass Parole Programs

(Bethany Blankley, The Center Square) U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has effectively ended a Biden-era mass parole program after it dismissed a lawsuit against the Trump administration.

The ruling is seen as a major victory for the Trump administration and for dozens of states that sued to stop parole programs created by the Biden administration that federal judges ruled were illegal but the programs continued.

Under the second Trump administration, Biden-era parole programs were terminated and expedited removal of those released into the country illegally began.

In order to stop this, several immigration groups sued led by the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights. Their lawsuit alleges a Department of Homeland Security memo and email violated the Administrative Procedure Act and Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause.

The groups won their first round in court after a district court granted a partial stay “to the extent the Challenged Actions subject to expedited removal individuals who have been, at any time, paroled into the United States at a point of entry.”

The appellate court reversed this ruling, arguing “the district court lacked jurisdiction. Therefore, we vacate the district court’s stay.”

It also clarified that “Although, we have jurisdiction over this appeal, the district court lacked jurisdiction.”

The appellate court also squashed the lawsuit altogether, ruling the plaintiffs don’t have legal standing to sue.

In its 14-page ruling, it also tore apart the plaintiffs’ arguments, stating its counterarguments “failed.”

The requests they made for a stay were also faulty, the court said. “Even if the number of expedited removals increased because of the [memo and email], that does not mean getting rid of [either] will reverse that trend,” the court ruled. “The stay the plaintiffs requested would not affect the Government’s authority to continue subjecting the plaintiffs to expedited removal” under federal law.

The court also clarified in a note to its ruling that “Parole termination is ultimately irrelevant to our analysis here. The plaintiffs do not challenge the regulation rendering ex-parolees liable to expedited removal under the arriving in authority. So whether or not parole termination has taken place, and whether or not ex-parolees are subject to expedited removal under the designation authority, the organizational plaintiffs’ members would remain equally subject to expedited removal under the arriving in authority.”

At issue is the Trump administration’s expedited removal of millions of inadmissible foreign nationals who were released into the country through more than a dozen parole programs created by the Biden administration. The U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security identified the parole programs as illegal when bringing impeachment charges against former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, The Center Square reported.

Dozens of states sued, led by Texas and Florida, arguing the parole programs were illegal, The Center Square reported. A federal judge in Florida ruled more than once that the parole programs were illegal and expressed exasperation that they continued, The Center Square reported.

A successful appeal in this case is unlikely.

“Plaintiffs cannot seek relief that changes nothing for them. The plaintiffs here tried to do just that. So we vacate the stay issued by the district court,” the court held.

The parole programs that were terminated led to millions of foreign nationals entering the U.S. They include one created for Central American Minors, a CHNV program for Cuban, Honduran, Nicaraguan and Venezuelans and a “Family Reunification Parole Process” for Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Hondurans and Columbians.

The CHNV parole program ushered in more than three million people in three years deemed inadmissible under federal immigration law, The Center Square reported. They totaled more than the individual populations of 17 states.

Another 2.5 million Colombians, Salvadorans, Guatemalans and Hondurans were paroled through their own parole program, The Center Square reported. They totaled more than the individual populations of 15 states.

The Trump administration also terminated Biden era “Circumvention of Lawful Pathways” rule that altered the asylum process, a phone app created to expedite entry into the United States for inadmissible foreign nationals, among others, The Center Square reported.

Now those released into the country through the parole programs can be deported.

 

Man Kills a Woman and Their Child at a Minnesota Daycare Before Taking His Own Life, Police Say

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Man Kills a Woman and Their Child at a Minnesota Daycare Before Taking His Own Life, Police Say

(Headline USA) A man killed a woman and their child at a home daycare they own in Minnesota before taking his life, police said Wednesday.

All six other children who were at the home have been reunited with their parents, and none were injured, according to authorities in Hopkins, a suburb of Minneapolis.

Hopkins Police Chief Brent Johnson said another parent called police after witnessing the attack while bringing a child to Brown Bear Childcare.

“There’s no worse scenario than this, where you drop off your child somewhere you think is safe, and you get that phone call,” Johnson said at a news conference.

The police chief declined to release the victims’ identities or say how they died. He said he didn’t know the relationship between the two adults who owned the daycare, but the child who died is believed to be theirs.

EDITOR’S NOTE — In the U.S., the national suicide and crisis lifeline is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org

Police and sheriff vehicles lined the otherwise quiet street where the daycare is located. 

The brown, two-story house has a mural on the garage door of a tree-lined lake and a moose. Photos on the daycare’s Facebook page show kids playing with toys inside and in the backyard, with colorful decorations and artwork on the walls.

Amanda Marx, a nurse who lives across the street, didn’t realize anything was wrong until she noticed police officers trying to break down the home’s front door.

She said officers moved behind the home before reappearing and calling for crime scene tape. Later, several young children emerged — one being carried by an officer.

Marx said she and her 7-year-old son always referred to it as the “garage house” due to the colorful mural. The longtime resident said she’d never met the home’s owners and was unaware they were running a daycare. She didn’t recall any prior disturbances.

“I’m just trying to figure out how to explain to my 7-year-old why there’s crime scene tape on our deck,” she said.

Records show the daycare has been licensed by the state since 2019 and has a capacity of 10 children. It was found to be in compliance during visits in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

Johnson said killings are a “rarity” in Hopkins and that his officers were shaken by the scene they found inside the home.

“I could see on the look on their faces that this was one of those ones that you’ll remember for your entire career, if not life,” Johnson said.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

Defense in Charlie Kirk’s Killing Say Shooter Should Not Get Death Penalty, Hit ‘Intended Target’

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Defense in Charlie Kirk’s Killing Say Shooter Should Not Get Death Penalty, Hit ‘Intended Target’

(Headline USA) The man charged with killing Charlie Kirk shouldn’t get the death penalty because the shooter “hit the intended target” and no one else was endangered when the conservative activist was shot from a rooftop as he addressed a crowd of thousands at an event in Utah last year, his lawyers said.

Defendant Tyler Robinson’s attorneys say the bullet traveled above the crowd and prosecutors have not proven that he knew others who attended Kirk’s event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10 were in danger — a potentially aggravating factor under state law that would make it a capital crime.

“The only evidence presented supports that the bullet traveled above, not through, the crowd,” defense attorneys wrote in documents filed late Tuesday as the defense tries to block the case from proceeding to trial.

The defense lawyers also disputed claims that Robinson targeted Kirk over his political views. Prosecutors allege Robinson told his roommate that he killed the activist because he “had enough of his hatred.” But the defense said that was not enough to prove what motivated Robinson, after searches of his apartment, computers and telephone failed to produce anything beyond that one statement.

Prosecutors last month presented what they call “overwhelming” evidence against Robinson, including DNA tests that tie him to the suspected murder weapon and apparent confessions by the defendant.

His defense attorneys during that hearing questioned the reliability of the prosecution’s evidence, but they didn’t offer any alternative theories for Kirk’s assassination. The defense made no mention of DNA in Tuesday’s filing.

Robinson has not yet entered a plea in the case. He turned himself in a day after Kirk was killed.

His defense attorneys previously tried to get the death penalty taken off the table after prosecutors were found to be in contempt of court for talking about the case to the media. State District Judge Tony Graf rejected that request.

Prosecutors have until Aug. 18 to respond to the defense arguments. The Associated Press left telephone and email messages with the Utah County Attorney’s Office seeking comment.

In documents filed last month, prosecutors said the fact that Robinson loaded his rifle with four bullets showed that he knew he could miss Kirk, “thereby putting others in danger.”

But defense attorneys said “it is just as likely that the shooter did not believe he would miss.”

Robinson faces possible sentence enhancements if prosecutors can prove he targeted Kirk because of his political views. They contend that Kirk’s strong opposition to same-sex marriage and gender transitioning stood in contrast to Robinson, who was in a romantic relationship with a roommate, Lance Twiggs. Twiggs told investigators that he had been considering transitioning around the time that Kirk was killed, according to prosecutors.

Twiggs also told investigators that Robinson sometimes talked about politics, including President Donald Trump. But Twiggs said he never heard Robinson talk about Kirk before the shooting. The defendant also did not talk much about gender issues or LGBTQ+ rights, Twiggs said.

The AP emailed Twiggs’ attorney seeking comment.

Closing arguments in the preliminary hearing are scheduled for Sept. 1. Graf will then decide if the case can go to trial and on what charges.

Preliminary hearings typically don’t last so long. Legal experts said the slow pace reflects a cautious approach by Graf and the large volume of evidence. Lawyers for Kirk’s family have asked Graf to make his decision on Sept. 1 so they case can proceed.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

Former SPLC Official Arrested

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Former SPLC Official Arrested

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Heidi Beirich, who was the Southern Poverty Law Center’s director of intelligence between 2012 and 2019, has been arrested as part of the Justice Department’s ongoing case against the SPLC for improperly raising millions of dollars to secretly pay leaders of the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups.

Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed Beirich’s arrest during a Wednesday press conference.

“I believe she was part of the effort to open bank accounts in completely fictitious companies’ names and make payments to individuals for reasons that that were not accurate as described,” Blanche said. “This is exactly what we said would happen in a case like this, which is that our investigators and the US attorneys and the agents working the case will can keep on working it even after the initial indictment.”

Blanche mentioned a new indictment in the SPLC case, but one has yet to be filed as of the publication of this article. The New York Post has noted that the “Employee-2” named in the Justice Department’s original indictment matches Beirich’s profile.

According to the DOJ, Employee-2 (presumably Beirich) was in a romantic relationship with an SPLC informant who infiltrated the neo-Nazi organization National Alliance. The informant has yet to be identified. He’s referred to in the indictment as “F-9.”

The DOJ indictment says F-9 and Employee-2 shared a house and two bank accounts.

“Between 2015 and 2021, approximately $140,000 in donors’ money flowed from the SPLC operating account … and was ultimately deposited into the joint bank accounts held by F-9 and [Beirich],” court records state.

“This amounted to approximately 66% of all money ever deposited into their joint bank accounts. [Beirich] then used donors’ money to pay the couple’s personal living expenses.”

The DOJ also said F-9 stole 25 boxes of documents from the National Alliance. The Post reported in June that Beirich wrote an article allegedly based on the stolen materials in 2015.

Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

Socialist Governor Candidate Defeated in Wisconsin

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Socialist Governor Candidate Defeated in Wisconsin

(Headline USA) Moderate Democrat David Crowley won the Wisconsin primary for governor, defeating a democratic socialist who fell short while trying to deliver another win for progressives in a battleground state.

Crowley, the Milwaukee county executive, is vying to become Wisconsin’s first black governor and pitched himself as the candidate best positioned to win in November against Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is endorsed by President Donald Trump.

Crowley narrowly defeated democratic socialist Francesca Hong, who was hoping to ride the wave of recent victories by progressive candidates, including Abdul El-Sayed in neighboring Michigan’s U.S. Senate race last week.

El-Sayed’s win was the movement’s first major success in a purple state. It also fed fears in the party’s leaders that such candidates, farther afield and often carrying political baggage of past stances such as defunding the police, would struggle to beat Republicans and imperil the party’s hopes of recapturing control of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House.

Crowley didn’t address supporters Tuesday night but was expected at a unity event later Wednesday.

“Now, David is focused on bringing people together, earning the support of Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and anyone who believes Wisconsin is at its best when we work together and deliver results,” Crowley’s campaign manager Garren Randolph said in a statement.

Hong’s loss in Wisconsin may have doused the momentum, but it’s far from snuffing it out. A democratic socialist coming close to victory in a battleground state sends a clear message: There’s unignorable angst among the party’s voters.

“We have built something that will change politics forever,” Hong told supporters as the outcome of the race hung in the balance late Tuesday. “The work we have done will be remembered forever. I know we don’t have the final results right now, but what I do know is we are ready to keep fighting.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Klobuchar Notches Democrat Nomination to Succeed Walz

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Klobuchar Notches Democrat Nomination to Succeed Walz

(, The Center Square) U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., notched her party’s nomination in the race to replace Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday. Klobuchar will face off against Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth in November.

Multiple media organizations called the Democratic primary for Klobuchar shortly before 8:30 p.m. central time. She had 90% of the vote with 11% counted. Demuth had 44.2% of the vote wtih 78% of votes counted when her race was called.

Klobuchar joined the race after Walz dropped out in January after intense scrutiny following reports of fraud in federal benefit programs across the state. She has spent her campaign distancing herself from Walz’ policies.

Klobuchar announced significant anti-fraud efforts and said she would conduct “top-to-bottom” inspections of federal programs in Minnesota.

“We want to make sure we’re taking care of the taxpayers’ money, that we are spending that money wisely on things that people need and making things as efficient as possible,” Klobuchar said.

Demuth also campaigned on cracking down on fraud in Minnesota. Her fraud plan would designate Ryan Wilson, her lieutenant governor, to head oversight of spending in the state’s executive agencies as his main priority.

Demuth proposed centralizing all services in a single, state-run agency to enhance coordination and collaboration between federal and state partners.

“Eligibility determination is a burden that we put on our counties that often ends up as an unfunded mandate,” Demuth said. “We can achieve cost savings through centralization and modernization with better compliance and oversight.”

She also promised to sign a bill that would create an Office of the Inspector General in Minnesota to oversee federal agencies and welfare programs. Similarly to Klobuchar, Demuth said she would increase the number of unannounced inspections where federal funds are received.

Demuth overcame a challenge from former MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump.

If elected, Klobuchar said she would create a database that blacklists individuals found guilty of fraud from receiving federal funds in other programs. She also said her administration would require more in person visits to businesses receiving federal funds.

“When it comes to running our state, I believe we need discipline, growth and accountability,” Klobuchar said.

Klobuchar is running alongside Ben Schierer, a businessman and the former mayor of Fergus Falls. Lindell is running alongside Phillip Parish, a former Republican candidate for governor who dropped out to run with Lindell.

Klobuchar has a massive fundraising advantage over Demuth with more than $7 million raised since she announced her candidacy in January.  Demuth trailed behind with $400,000, according to the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office.

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