Good morning, and happy Monday. Today’s rundown covers a lot of ground: the Supreme Court just denied Trump’s second attempt to overturn the $5 million E. Jean Carroll verdict, even as a separate $83 million appeal from that case still looms. Trump threatened to “bomb the s--t” out of Oman, a key backchannel partner in the Iran war, right as his own 60-day deadline for a peace deal quietly expired with nothing to show for it. Federal contractors are bulldozing Big Bend National Park under a $960 million contract, and Trump picked yet another fight with a female journalist (this time misspelling the insult).
It’s a lot, and I’m going to walk you through all of it.
Before I do: this newsletter exists because I refuse to stop reporting, even when the Pentagon and the White House would rather I did. The Navy has denied my reporting. Hegseth has called what I’ve documented “misrepresented.” I’ve had officials call me a liar for accurately reporting what service members and their families are actually going through. That kind of pushback isn’t a sign I got something wrong. It’s a sign the reporting is landing.
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Here’s the news:
The Supreme Court on Monday declined for a second time to take up Trump’s bid to overturn the $5 million jury verdict awarded to writer E. Jean Carroll for sexual abuse and defamation, after Trump made the unusual move of asking justices to reconsider their June decision rejecting his initial appeal, a request the Court almost never grants. Trump has already paid the full $5 million plus interest. The case stemmed from Carroll’s lawsuit alleging Trump sexually assaulted her in a department store dressing room in 1996, with the defamation claims tied to his later comments calling her allegations a “con job” and a “hoax,” which he has denied, saying he doesn’t know her. Trump still faces a separate Supreme Court appeal over a different case in which Carroll won an $83 million defamation judgment tied to remarks he made while in office during his first term, an appeal complicated by questions of presidential immunity that the Court isn’t expected to address until later this
Iran:
Trump threatened Monday to “bomb the s--t” out of Oman if the Gulf state interferes with his war against Iran, despite Oman having served as a key backchannel intermediary in the conflict since it began in February. The threat comes as Iran has kept the Strait of Hormuz closed since fighting started, driving up gas prices and eroding Trump’s domestic approval, with Iran saying it had been working with Oman to reopen the vital waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil normally flows. A 60-day deadline Trump set at Versailles to reach a broader peace deal passed Monday with no agreement in sight, and despite a strong U.S. naval presence led by the USS Abraham Lincoln, traffic through the strait has slowed to a trickle, from more than 100 vessels a day before the conflict to just 8-14 recently, according to Fox News host Bret Baier. The Lincoln itself has become a source of pressure on Trump, with its crew nine months into a grueling deployment and reports of deteriorating conditions, including alleged attempts by sailors to go overboard. Trump also dismissed concerns about depleted munitions stockpiles from the conflict, calling what’s been used “peanuts” and claiming the U.S. has “a lot of mid-level weapons.”
Jared Kushner met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday after holding rare talks in Cairo with a Hamas delegation led by Khalil al-Hayya, part of a renewed push to revive the Trump-backed Gaza peace plan that Israel has rejected. Netanyahu has refused the 15-point plan requiring Hamas’s disarmament and an Israeli withdrawal, vowing no pullout until Hamas is “genuinely disarmed,” while Hamas says it will disarm only after Israel ends strikes, withdraws, and the international community recognizes a Palestinian state. The effort faces fierce domestic opposition in Israel, highlighted by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s call for “targeted killings” of “30 or 40” people in Gaza nightly and his dehumanizing remarks about Palestinians, comments that echo statements cited in an ongoing genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. Tensions have also flared in the West Bank, where U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee condemned Israeli settlers besieging the village of Qusra as “Israeli terrorists,” marking a rare American rebuke of Israel. Since the ceasefire began, more than 1,200 people have been killed in Gaza and at least four Israeli soldiers have died, while the broader conflict since October 2023 has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians and left much of Gaza destroyed.
Big Bend Destruction Escalates:
Federal contractors have begun early construction on border security infrastructure across roughly 17 miles of remote areas in Big Bend National Park, building patrol roads, vehicle barriers, cameras, and sensors, with work already underway on Mariscal Mountain within the park. Former park biologist Laiken Jordahl shared drone footage showing bulldozers tearing into the mountain, calling it the first “truly irreversible damage” to the park and warning that endangered cactus species and sensitive terrain are being destroyed within just two days of work beginning.
Jordahl and others argue the destruction is unjustified given the park’s protected status, noting sardonically that visitors “can’t pick a flower or take home a rock” yet DHS is bulldozing an entire mountain, and separately criticized the administration for re-labeling border areas as “defense areas” to enable military control, with former DHS official Miles Taylor calling the move “stupid,” “illegal,” and “dystopian.”
The construction has sparked intense backlash on social media, with critics including Texas HD 132 Democratic nominee Sara McGee accusing Texas leadership, including Gov. Greg Abbott, of abandoning the state’s traditional stance on states’ rights and local control in favor of federal overreach for personal gain. Jordahl further pushed back on official characterizations of the work as mere “survey and design,” arguing the planned road spans the entire river corridor considered the park’s ecological core, and accused officials in Washington of imposing the plan without understanding the park’s on-the-ground significance. Others expressed visceral frustration, with one calling the situation “beyond infuriating.” The controversy centers on whether the scale of construction described as limited by supporters actually represents a much broader and more permanent transformation of the park’s landscape.
Supporters, including Rep. Dan Crenshaw, defend the project as a limited enforcement measure that enhances border security without destroying the park, pointing out the area sees relatively low migrant crossing activity to begin with. The debate is further fueled by the scale of federal spending involved, including a $960 million contract awarded to Barnard Construction, prompting questions from critics about both the cost and the actual necessity of the project given low encounter rates in the area. The dispute reflects a broader clash between border security priorities and environmental and states’-rights concerns, playing out largely through competing narratives and viral footage on social media rather than official government statements. As the story is described as still evolving, based on ongoing social media posts, further details and reactions are likely to emerge.
Trump attacks Fox News:
Trump attacked Fox News host Shannon Bream on Truth Social, misspelling “milquetoast” as “milktoast” while criticizing her for showing outdated photos of his White House ballroom project rather than updated ones. The insult followed Bream’s interview with Attorney General Todd Blanche, in which she pressed him on why the administration is continuing construction despite a D.C. District Court ruling requiring Trump to either halt the project or seek congressional authorization, which the White House is appealing instead of pursuing.
It was Trump’s second attack on Bream that morning, after he falsely claimed her ratings were falling and called her show biased against MAGA and Republicans, and it echoes a similar “Milk Toast” jab he made against her in June over her coverage of his immigration record. Trump has used the same insult against former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and has a broader pattern of attacking female journalists, including calling CNN’s Kaitlan Collins “the worst reporter” and telling Bloomberg’s Catherine Lucey to be “quiet, piggy.” The episode comes as Trump’s continued focus on D.C. beautification projects, unpopular with voters more worried about the Iran war and cost of living, has raised questions among pollsters about the political toll heading into the midterms.
Natalie Harp:
Natalie Harp, 34, is a special and executive assistant to President Trump who has become an almost constant presence at his side, attending Oval Office meetings, carrying a portable printer to hand him favorable news stories and social media posts (earning her the nickname “the human printer”), and posting from his social media accounts, reportedly without routinely clearing drafts with the chief of staff’s office or communications and national security aides. She became close to Trump after battling stage 2 bone cancer and crediting him with helping her access experimental treatment through the Right to Try Act, which he signed into law in 2018; at the 2020 Republican National Convention she told him, “I wouldn’t be alive today if it wasn’t for you.” According to Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan’s book “Regime Change,” Harp left Trump adoring notes during the campaign, including one reading “You are all that matters to me,” and Trump reportedly told staff early in his second term that she was “the only one who loved him as much as his wife and kids,” adding “All of you will go off and make money. She’ll never leave me.” Her brother, Preston Harp, has described her bond with the president to the Daily Mail as “very unhealthy,” suggesting she may be seeking a father figure in Trump.
Harp’s unusual closeness to Trump drew fresh scrutiny after it was revealed she was among the small group who accompanied him aboard a secure military aircraft that flew him from Turkey to England following a reported Iranian assassination threat, while officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and adviser Stephen Miller were left behind on a decoy Air Force One. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, notably, boarded the military plane openly as part of the deception operation. The secret plane switch itself has generated backlash after it was revealed by the Washington Post earlier this month, having kept the press and public in the dark, and reporting has suggested reporters and staff were effectively used “as bait” in the switch plot. The episode has become a symbol, for critics, of Trump prioritizing personal loyalty and comfort over transparency with senior officials and the public during a moment of genuine security concern.
Democratic Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff mocked Trump’s priorities during a rally in Atlanta on Sunday, accusing him of “lying a nation into war, treating citizens as fools, and those who serve as pawns,” and contrasting sailors enduring a grueling deployment aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln with a president he described as napping through meetings, golfing, trading stocks, and wanting “to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar.”
His comments referenced ongoing concerns from military families about deteriorating conditions on the Lincoln during its extended Middle East deployment supporting the Iran war effort. Hegseth has dismissed those concerns as “misrepresented,” telling reporters last week that “we make sure every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment,” while acknowledging some deployments run longer than others. The Independent noted it had contacted the White House for comment on Ossoff’s remarks, and Harp was seen with Trump again on the same day the senator delivered his speech.
Other news:
Actor Hayden Panettiere, known for her roles as Claire Bennet on “Heroes” and Juliette Barnes on “Nashville,” has died at 36, her father Skip Panettiere announced Sunday night; police in Greenville, South Carolina, responded to a report of an unresponsive woman Sunday afternoon and pronounced her dead at the scene, with an investigation ongoing but no signs of foul play indicated so far. Panettiere had recently published a memoir, “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” and had spoken openly this year about struggling with postpartum depression and addiction after the birth of her daughter, Kaya, which led her to give up custody to former partner Wladimir Klitschko in 2018, though she said she maintained a strong bond with her child. She also discussed the grief of losing her younger brother, actor Jansen Panettiere, who died of an undiagnosed heart condition in 2023. Tributes poured in from colleagues including Viola Davis, Kelly Osbourne and SAG-AFTRA, as well as from Washington, D.C. Senator Paul Strauss, who praised her advocacy work for whale conservation and D.C. statehood. Her father remembered her as “an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her.”
Trump denounced the joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises just as they began Monday, calling them “totally inappropriate and hostile” toward North Korea and directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce” them, while praising Kim Jong-un as “unthreatening and respectful” despite the North’s expanded nuclear arsenal, threats against Seoul, and new mutual defense treaty with Russia that has seen it send troops to support the Ukraine war. The move deals a fresh blow to the seven-decade U.S.-South Korea alliance, already strained by Trump’s tariffs and transactional diplomacy, alarming allies and analysts who warn the alliance risks becoming a “zombie” losing its strategic purpose, even as South Korea’s government confirmed the drills proceeded as scheduled and pledged continued coordination with Washington. Trump also faulted South Korea for declining to help “denuclearize” Iran. While South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, a proponent of inter-Korean reconciliation, has welcomed the overture as a possible path to renewed Trump-Kim dialogue, experts note any second round of diplomacy faces steeper hurdles than in 2018, since North Korea is now a de facto nuclear state bolstered by Russian and Chinese support and insists Washington drop its denuclearization demands before resuming talks.
The Trump administration has canceled at least three NIH grants worth $15 million total at Emory University and the University of Pittsburgh that were studying how racism and discrimination affect long-term brain health and Alzheimer’s risk, part of its broader effort to strip “DEI”-linked topics from the NIH’s research portfolio; researchers say officials targeted the work simply because it used terms and survey-based methods they disliked, with NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya’s cancellation letters citing a lack of “concrete, objective and measurable variables,” a rationale scientists call scientifically illiterate given that self-reported measures are standard across psychiatry and epidemiology. The cuts come after a similar 2025 wave of DEI-linked grant terminations was ruled illegal by a federal judge but later upheld in part by a 5-4 Supreme Court shadow-docket ruling allowing $783 million in NIH funding cuts, with legal experts like Georgetown’s Lawrence Gostin suggesting these newest cancellations represent a “test case” strategy to find legally defensible ways to eliminate the same disfavored research after being previously blocked in court.
Reps. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) and Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) are preparing bipartisan legislation, backed by both Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, to overhaul how Congress investigates and addresses sexual misconduct, with plans to unveil the framework in September. The push follows a wave of allegations against male lawmakers that led to two resignations in one week and builds on 2018 #MeToo-era reforms that held members liable for harassment settlements but left a confusing patchwork of reporting channels, including the Ethics Committee, the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights, and the Office of Congressional Conduct (OCC). The two lawmakers want to create a "one-stop shop" with trauma-informed staff for reporting, speed up and standardize Ethics Committee investigations and penalties (citing the case of Rep. Chuck Edwards, whose censure recommendation Leger Fernández called inadequate), and ban all House members from relationships with any congressional staffer, not just those in their own offices. They also hope to codify the OCC into law, though that and any Senate-side changes would require buy-in from a chamber that has historically resisted such oversight, and their focus for now remains on securing House reforms first.
A man charged with arranging the fatal ambush of Microsoft design manager Jared Bridegan, 33, goes to trial Monday in Jacksonville, Florida, more than four years after Bridegan was shot outside his vehicle in 2022 while his 2-year-old was in a car seat. Prosecutors allege it was a murder-for-hire scheme in which Bridegan’s ex-wife, Shanna Gardner, and her current husband, Mario Fernandez Saldana, conspired to kill him amid years of bitter custody disputes; Fernandez Saldana faces first-degree murder charges now, while Gardner’s trial won’t begin until September. A judge summarizing evidence from a 2024 bond hearing found that Gardner “hated Mr. Bridegan, hated having to share custody of the children with him and wanted him dead.” The alleged gunman, Henry Tenon, initially pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Fernandez Saldana but withdrew his plea this year and will face his own trial in 2027; authorities say Tenon was paid at least $10,000 and that his DNA was found on a tire used to block Bridegan’s car. Bridegan was killed while driving home with one of his children after a custody exchange, and his widow, Kirsten Bridegan, has since spoken publicly about her grief over his death.
A new wave of fuel shortages has hit at least 10 Russian regions in August, prompting local authorities to again tighten controls on gasoline sales at petrol stations, with Reuters witnesses reporting gasoline unavailable at some Moscow-region stations Monday, though diesel remained largely available. The crisis, which first gained momentum in May and spread to nearly all of Russia by July, stems from refineries knocked offline by drone attacks combined with seasonal demand increases. Authorities responded by banning gasoline and diesel exports, lowering fuel quality standards, and importing petroleum products, which helped stabilize the situation by late July, with some regions easing restrictions. However, a fresh round of drone strikes on refineries in late July and early August triggered renewed shortages, with the Russian government citing continued difficulties in regions including Orenburg, Lipetsk, Tver, Krasnodar and Primorsky. Gasoline sales on the St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange have fallen an average of 20% since early August compared to the second half of
See you soon.
— Aaron
