Socialist Workers Thailand: Ceasefire now! The people say no to war with Cambodia!

By Socialist Worker Thailand

Published 26 July, 2025

The gunfire and explosions that erupted along the Thai–Cambodian border on 24 July 2025 has taken the lives of both civilians and rank-and-file soldiers. This bloodshed is a tragedy for all who believe in peace. We extend our deepest condolences to the families of those lost and hereby affirm our firm stance: the conflict between Thailand and Cambodia must not be allowed to escalate further. 

“Ceasefire now” is the message we must all raise together. We call on everyone who stands for justice and peace across Thailand, Cambodia, and the ASEAN community to unite behind this call. We cannot count on the leaders of the governments or the militaries of Thailand and Cambodia to sincerely seek a swift resolution to this war. 

War between nation-states is a crime that the people never choose. It is driven by the ruling elites of modern states who seek to expand military influence in order to increase bargaining power over economic interests and to divert attention from class conflict, social inequality, and the erosion of democracy through the spread of nationalism and by allowing the military to monopolize national security. 

True national security defined as the well-being of the people and the safeguarding of democracy is not solely the business of the military, nor is it achieved through retaliatory or escalatory violence. Global history has taught us unequivocally that no war has ever been resolved through increased aggression. On the contrary, it only leads to further loss of life and grief. 

The nationalist incitement spread on social media and echoed by mainstream media since the beginning with hashtags like “Thailand is peace-loving but not afraid to fight” and “We will not lose even an inch of territory” — is completely inappropriate. It fuels racial hatred and dehumanizes others, and the victims of this hatred are Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand. 

We firmly believe that building an anti-war movement led by peace-loving citizens is the most reliable way to pressure the leaders of both nations to take public concern seriously. Therefore, we put forward two key demands: 

• An immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of troops from the conflict zone.
• Solidarity between the people and workers on both sides through joint expressions of the desire for peace and opposition to war while creating space for dialogue to build lasting peace that goes beyond the framework of “nationalism.”

July 25, 2025

MONOPOLY CAPITALI$M

SpaceX Whines To The Feds About Another Company Flooding Orbit With Satellites

Ryan Erik King
Thu, July 24, 2025 

Jalopnik.


A artist's impression of a AST BlueBird satellites in orbit - AST SpaceMobile

SpaceX's Starlink satellite megaconstellation offers a wireless internet connection to most of the planet, but it comes at a cost. Astronomers have criticized Elon Musk's private space company for blinding ground-based telescopes and interfering with radio observatories. With that in mind, SpaceX had the gall to send a letter complaining about the potential dangers of a competitor's satellites to the Federal Communications Commission earlier this week. AST SpaceMobile is aiming to launch its own satellite-based internet service that you can access directly from your phone.

In fairness, SpaceX may have a point. The satellites for AST SpaceMobile's proposed BlueBird constellation are the size of a tennis court. According to Gizmodo, the massive, reflective antenna-lined array would be visible to the naked eye from the ground. The metallic sheets would be brighter than most objects in the night sky, except for the Moon, Venus, Jupiter, and seven stars. Now, imagine 248 of these things streaking across the night sky. SpaceX is primarily concerned that the Texas-based manufacturer failed to conduct a basic risk assessment for maintaining a BlueBird satellite in orbit. The letter reads:


"AST underestimates its collision risk by assuming its dead satellites will stay in their optimal orientation even when AST loses control of them. AST raises serious questions about its readiness to avoid collisions by massively undercounting the number of objects it will need to avoid in its orbits."

Read more: These Are The Car-Related Movie Mistakes That Really Bother You
AST Could Disrupt Starlink's Effective Monopoly On Satellite Internet

AST staff posing for a photo standing behind on the massive array of a BlueBird satellite - AST SpaceMobile

Of course, SpaceX has a vested interest in grounding a potential competitor. Starlink customers currently connect to the network with an unwieldy flat receiver disk. While the recent launch of the backpack-portable Starlink Mini will draw more subscribers, AST SpaceMobile's equipment-less product would deal a severe blow to SpaceX in the marketplace. There would be no barrier to entry, allowing users to immediately sign up for the global 5G service. AST estimates there are 3.7 billion cellphone users around the world without access to broadband coverage that it hopes to tap into.

Competition concerns aside, SpaceX's personnel are among the most experienced in determining whether a satellite poses a risk. The Starlink operator accounts for 60% of the satellites currently in orbit and has never had a collision with another satellite. However, low Earth orbit is only becoming more crowded with each passing year. Roscomos plans to launch a Russian satellite constellation later this year and Chinese companies are already underway with their own endeavors in orbit. If the space isn't well regulated, then there could be a disaster that could endanger people on the ground or compromise humanity's access to the final frontier.

Air Force Halts SpaceX Hypersonic Cargo Rocket Tests To Save Seabirds From Potential Blasts
Ryan Erik King
Tue, July 8, 2025
Jalopnik.

SpaceX has a history of disregarding environmental concerns as it rushes forward with an unprecedented number of launches. The private space company faced scrutiny from the New York Times last year. The newspaper detailed how a Starship launch reduced a nest of a fragile migratory bird species to a yellow smear of egg yolk and destroyed nine nests in total. It wasn't a one-off incident, but a worrying trend at SpaceX's Texas facility. In response, Musk posted on X, "To make up for this heinous crime, I will refrain from having omelette for a week." - Wirestock/Getty ImagesMore

Domino's once guaranteed that it could deliver pizzas in 30 minutes or less. The United States Air Force partnered with SpaceX in hopes of developing hypersonic rockets that could deliver 100 tons of cargo anywhere on the planet in 90 minutes or less. However, the military branch announced last Thursday that it's suspending plans for a testing program on a remote Pacific atoll. The Air Force yielded to environmental concerns that landings could endanger native seabirds, a welcome change of pace from Elon Musk's disregard for the impact of exploding SpaceX rockets showering the planet in debris.

The USAF planned to build two landing pads on the Johnston Atoll, roughly 800 miles southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii. The pads would have accommodated ten landings per year, according to Stars And Stripes. Hypersonic rockets travel faster than five times the speed of sound or 3,800 miles per hour, so it's a mighty tall ask for the rocket to properly decelerate and land safely. The Center for Biological Diversity, an endangered species protection non-profit, understandably sued the Air Force as well as the Fish and Wildlife Service in June for public records related to the project. The atoll is a protected seabird refuge.

Musk Joked Before About His Rockets Killing Wildlife

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy passes the American Flag located at NASA's Launch Complex 39 Press Site as it launches the NOAA GOES-U weather satellite at 5:26 P.M. - Brandon Moser/Getty Images

SpaceX has a history of disregarding environmental concerns as it rushes forward with an unprecedented number of launches. The private space company faced scrutiny from the New York Times last year. The newspaper detailed how a Starship launch reduced a nest of a fragile migratory bird species to a yellow smear of egg yolk and destroyed nine nests in total. It wasn't a one-off incident, but a worrying trend at SpaceX's Texas facility. In response, Musk posted on X, "To make up for this heinous crime, I will refrain from having omelette for a week."

US House panel subpoenas JPMorgan, Bank of America CEOs over IPO of China's CATL

FILE PHOTO: The Clearing House Annual Conference in New York

Thu, July 24, 2025 
By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on China said on Thursday it sent subpoenas addressed to JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan over their banks' roles in underwriting the initial public offering of Chinese battery manufacturer CATL.

The U.S. government has alleged that CATL, the world's largest electric vehicle battery maker, works with China's military. In January, Washington added CATL to a list of companies that it alleged aided Beijing's military. CATL says it was "not engaged in any military-related activities."

The congressional panel asked the banks' executives to comply by August 8. The committee said it requested information from the banks in April. Bank of America produced 10 documents, nine of them public, while JPMorgan produced one public document, the House panel said, adding it has not received all of the requested details.

"We've had constructive engagement with the committee and will continue to engage," a Bank of America spokesperson said. JPMorgan declined to comment.

Earlier this year, Republican U.S. Representative John Moolenaar, who chairs the House Select Committee on China, urged the U.S. banks to pull out of underwriting the Hong Kong IPO of the Chinese firm.

Washington and Beijing have had tensions for years spanning issues such as trade tariffs, technology, cybersecurity and geopolitics.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler and David Gregorio)

Intel is cutting more jobs as CEO Tan tries to fix manufacturing missteps

Arsheeya Bajwa, Stephen Nellis and Max A. Cherney
Updated Thu, July 24, 2025 


FILE PHOTO: Illustration shows Intel logo


By Arsheeya Bajwa, Stephen Nellis and Max A. Cherney

(Reuters) -Intel is going to end the year with a workforce that is over a fifth smaller than last year, it said on Thursday, and new CEO Lip Bu Tan presented a blueprint for a more cost-disciplined, streamlined chipmaker that would issue "no more blank checks."

The job cuts - a majority of which have been completed already - are part of an effort by Tan since he took the helm in March to turn around the storied U.S. chipmaker. Intel has divested businesses, laid off employees and redirected resources.

The company has underperformed due to years of management blunders. Intel has virtually no foothold in the booming AI chip industry that is dominated by Nvidia, and its longtime rival AMD has been gaining share in Intel's mainstay personal computer and server semiconductor markets. Its ambitious and costly plan for a chip contracting business that rivals that of Taiwan's TSMC has failed to take off.

But Tan on Thursday signaled that he had taken charge of the company and was trying to wrest it back from what he viewed as previous missteps.

"There are no more blank checks," Tan wrote in a memo to employees. "Every investment must make economic sense. We will build what our customers need, when they need it, and earn their trust through consistent execution."

But shares still fell 4.5% in extended trading after the company forecast steeper third-quarter losses than Wall Street estimated. Tan also told analysts on a conference call that he believes Intel's so-called 18A manufacturing process - in which his predecessor Pat Gelsinger had deeply invested - could generate a reasonable return only if it is used for Intel's own products. Reuters reported earlier this month that Tan is debating whether to quit offering that technology to external customers.

As part of the job cuts, Intel attempted to take a “surgical” approach and remove layers of middle management, finance chief David Zinsner told Reuters. “We took out about 50% of the layers of the company,” he said.

The company is cutting its workforce by 15% from 96,400 that it reported at the end of June. It plans to further reduce headcount to 75,000 by the end of the year, down 22% from the end of 2024, which will be through attrition and "other means," according to the company.

TAN WILL REVIEW

"They may have overspent on 18A ... but I think this is the painted picture of a new fiscally disciplined base that they're going to go from here. I think that's the right approach," said Ben Bajarin, CEO of tech market analysis firm Creative Strategies.

In the memo to employees, Tan said Intel is changing its strategy for building manufacturing capacity and now plans to build factories only when the demand for its chips is there. Previously, the company had built factories ahead of demand in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Intel is now working to bring its 18A technology to high volume. Tan said in the memo that the company plans to take a disciplined approach to investments in the next-generation 14A manufacturing process, and in its quarterly securities filing, Intel said that if it fails to find a significant external customer for 14A, it may be forced to exit the chip manufacturing business.

Tan wrote the company now plans to slow construction work on new factories in Ohio and halt planned factories in Poland and Germany, and consolidate chip packaging operations in Costa Rica with its other packaging operations in Vietnam and Malaysia.

"I do not subscribe to the belief that if you build it, they will come," Tan said on the call with analysts. He later added that he will personally review and approve each of Intel's major chip designs.

STEEP LOSSES

Intel said it expects a third-quarter loss of 24 cents per share, steeper than estimates of losses of 18 cents per share, according to data from LSEG. It expects revenue of $12.6 billion to $13.6 billion for the September quarter, with a midpoint of $13.1 billion that was higher than analysts' average estimate of $12.65 billion.

While semiconductors are currently exempt from U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping global tariffs, Intel and its fellow chipmakers are facing customers who are reluctant about spending commitments amid widespread macroeconomic uncertainty. Customers have pulled shipments forward to the first half of the year amid trade uncertainty.

Intel's second-quarter revenue for the period ended June 28 was flat at $12.9 billion, snapping a four-quarter streak of sales declines. The result beat estimates of $11.92 billion.

Intel said job cuts contributed to restructuring costs of $1.9 billion in the second quarter.

It recorded June quarter adjusted losses of 10 cents per share, compared with estimates of a profit of 1 cent per share. Its unadjusted loss was 67 cents per share in the second quarter, steeper than analyst estimates of a 26-cent-per-share loss.

(Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru and Max A. Cherney and Stephen Nellis in San FranciscoEditing by Sayantani Ghosh and Matthew Lewis)

CEO of Russia-backed Indian refiner Nayara resigns after EU sanctions, sources say

Logo of Nayara is seen at its fuel station on the outskirts of Ahmedabad · Reuters

Fri, July 25, 2025 
By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Russia-backed Indian refiner Nayara Energy has named a new chief executive after its previous CEO resigned following European Union sanctions that targeted the company, four sources with knowledge of the matter said on Friday.

The reshuffle at the top is the latest disruption for the company since the EU announced a new round of sanctions last Friday directed at Russia over its war in Ukraine.

This week, a tanker carrying Russian Urals crude was diverted away from Nayara's Vadinar port to unload its cargo at another port in western India, Reuters reported. That came after two other tankers skipped loading refined products from Vadinar, Reuters reported.

Mumbai-based Nayara has appointed company veteran Sergey Denisov as chief executive to replace Alessandro des Dorides, the sources said. Denisov's appointment was decided at a board meeting on Wednesday, they said.

Nayara Energy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.


Des Dorides, who joined Nayara Energy in April 2024, for a three-year term, did not immediately respond to a message sent on LinkedIn.

In its announcement of his appointment last year, Nayara described Des Dorides as a 24-year veteran of the energy industry. He left Italian major Eni in 2019 after about six months as head of oil trading and operations.

Denisov has been with Nayara since 2017. His LinkedIn profile describes him as Nayara's chief development officer.

In recent days, Nayara's website has no longer carried pages listing its leadership.

The company is one of India's two major private-sector refiners, along with the larger Reliance Industries. The pair have been India's biggest buyers of discounted Russian crude.

Nayara, which operates India's third-biggest refinery at Vadinar in western Gujarat state, typically exports at least four million barrels of refined products per month, including diesel, jet fuel, gasoline and naphtha. It also operates more than 6,000 fuel stations.

The 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) Vadinar refinery is equivalent to nearly 8% of India's total refining capacity of about 5.2 million bpd.

Nayara Energy has criticised the EU's "unjust and unilateral" decision to impose sanctions.

Russia's Rosneft holds a 49.13% stake in Nayara and a similar stake is owned by a consortium, Kesani Enterprises Co Ltd, led by Italy's Mareterra Group and Russian investment group United Capital Partners, according to a 2024 note by India's CARE Ratings agency.

India, which has become the top importer of seaborne Russian oil in the aftermath of Moscow's Ukraine invasion, has also criticised the EU's sanctions.


Rosneft, which said the sanctions on Nayara were unjustified and illegal, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma. Additional reporting by Mohi Narayan and Vladimir Soldatkin. Editing by Tony Munroe, Elaine Hardcastle and Louise Heavens)

ECOCIDE

Sri Lankan court orders owners of container ship to pay $1 billion in marine pollution compensation

BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI
Thu, July 24, 2025


FILE - A stray dog stands amid the waves as decomposed remains of a turtle lies on a polluted beach following the sinking of a container ship, the X-Press Pearl, a Singapore-flagged ship, that caught fire while transporting chemicals off Kapungoda, outskirts of Colombo, Sri Lanka, June 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena, File)ASSOCIATED PRESS

FILE - Sri Lankan navy soldiers walk on the beach looking for plastic debris washed ashore from the fire damaged container ship MV X-Press Pearl at Kapungoda, on the outskirts of Colombo, Sri Lanka, June 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena, File)ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s top court on Thursday ordered the owners of a Singapore-flagged container ship that sank near its capital to pay $1 billion in compensation to the island nation’s government for causing the most severe marine environment catastrophe in the country's history.

The container ship MV X-Press Peal, which was carrying chemicals, sank off Colombo in June, 2021 after catching fire. The Supreme Court said the incident caused “unprecedented devastation to the marine environment of Sri Lanka” and harmed the country’s economy, especially the lives of the fishing communities.

Judges said the disaster led to the death of 417 turtles, 48 dolphins, eight whales and a large number of fish species that washed ashore after the incident. Debris from the ship, including several tons of plastic pellets used to make plastic bags, caused severe pollution on beaches.

“This marine environmental disaster constitutes the largest recorded marine plastic spill in the world,” the judgement said. “It resulted in the widespread release of toxic and hazardous substances into the marine environment, poisoning ocean waters, killing marine species, and destructing phytoplankton."

Due to the severe marine pollution, the government imposed a fishing ban for well over a year, depriving fishermen of their income and livelihood.

The incident "continues to cause destruction and harm to Sri Lanka’s marine environment,” said the judgement, signed by five supreme court judges.

The judgement was given against the X-Press Pearl group that included ship's registered owner, EOS Ro Pte. Limited, and other charterers. All are based in Singapore. An agent in Sri Lanka, Sea Consortium Lanka (Pvt.) Ltd., was also named.

The court said it has sufficient reasons to hold that X-Press Pearl group “should be held accountable and liable under the Polluter Pays Principle for the pollution caused by the MV X-Press Pearl vessel.”

It said the owner, operators and local agent of the ship were all liable for the payment of compensation, which should be used to restore and protect the affected marine and coastal environment.

There was no immediate comment on the judgement from the owner or agent of the vessel.

The court ruling came after several parties, including environment campaigners and fisher rights groups, filed litigation seeking compensation.

Wrongfully imprisoned Maryland man who spent 32 years behind bars sues former authorities

BRIAN WITTE
Thu, July 24, 2025 

In this photo provided by Romanucci & Blandin, John Huffington, left, wipes away a tear during a press conference with representatives of law firms Romanucci & Blandin and Hart McLaughlin & Eldridge to announce a federal civil lawsuit he is filing after serving more than three decades in prison for a wrongful conviction in Baltimore, Thursday, July 24, 2025. (Romanucci & Blandin via AP)ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this photo provided by Romanucci & Blandin, John Huffington speaks at a press conference with representatives of law firms Romanucci & Blandin and Hart McLaughlin & Eldridge to announce a federal civil lawsuit he is filing after serving more than three decades in prison for a wrongful conviction in Baltimore, Thursday, July 24, 2025. (Romanucci & Blandin via AP)ASSOCIATED PRESS


ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — A Maryland man who was wrongly imprisoned for 32 years, including a decade on death row, for two killings he did not commit is suing former law enforcement officials in a lawsuit announced Thursday, though four of the five people named as defendants are deceased.

John Huffington was pardoned by then-Gov. Larry Hogan in January 2023. Hogan cited prosecutorial misconduct in granting a full innocence pardon to Huffington in connection with a 1981 double slaying in Harford County. A Maryland board approved $2.9 million in compensation for Huffington later that year during Gov. Wes Moore's administration.

Huffington said in a statement Thursday that “it took many, many painful years, but the truth eventually came out.” Just 18 at the time of his arrest, he said neither of his parents ever got to see and understand that his name had been cleared and he was set free.

"All of those years I spent behind bars damaged and strained my relationships, cost me the ability to have a family of my own, cost me the ability to be with my mother when she died, cost me precious time with my father who was in his nineties and suffering from Alzheimer’s when I finally was released,” he added.

Huffington, 62, always maintained his innocence. He was released from Patuxent Institution in 2013 after serving 32 years of two life sentences.

He was convicted twice in the killings known as the “Memorial Day Murders.” Diane Becker was stabbed to death in her recreational vehicle, while her 4-year-old son, who was inside, was not harmed. Joseph Hudson, Becker’s boyfriend, was fatally shot and found a few miles (kilometers) away. A second suspect in the slayings testified against Huffington, was convicted of first-degree murder, and served 27 years.

Prosecutors relied on testimony that was later discredited about hair found at the crime scene purportedly matching Huffington’s.

He appealed his first conviction in 1981. In 1983, a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder and he was sentenced to death. Prosecutors later commuted that sentence to two life terms.

Questions about evidence in the case arose when The Washington Post uncovered an FBI report in 2011 that found the FBI agent who analyzed hair evidence in Huffington’s case may not have used reliable science, or even tested the hair at all. The report had been written in 1999, but Harford County State’s Attorney Joseph Cassilly didn't provide it to Huffington’s lawyers.

A Frederick County judge vacated Huffington’s convictions and ordered a new trial in 2013 after Huffington presented new evidence using DNA testing that was not available during his earlier trials. When the hair evidence was tested for DNA more than 30 years later, the results showed it was not Huffington’s hair.

Maryland’s highest court unanimously voted to disbar Cassilly in 2021. The court found he withheld exculpatory evidence in the 1981 double murder and lied about it in the following years.

Cassilly, who maintained he did nothing wrong, retired in 2019. He died in January.

His brother, Bob Cassilly, who is now the Harford County executive, said in a statement that his brother was a decorated war hero who was injured while serving his country and served as the county's state's attorney for 36 years while in a wheelchair.

“Joe cannot defend himself in this decades-old matter because he is now deceased, as are the other named defendants, except for one who is almost 80,” Cassilly said. “Harford County government, in which I currently serve as county executive, has no role in this case -- the county was never the defendants’ employer."

Huffington also is suing the assistant state’s attorney on his case, Gerard Comen, the Harford County government, and the county sheriff’s office detectives, David Saneman, William Van Horn and Wesley J. Picha. All but Saneman are now dead, according to the lawsuit filed July 15 in federal court in Baltimore.

Saneman told The Washington Post on Wednesday he had not seen or heard of the lawsuit and declined to comment.

FEDERAL CENSORSHIP COMMITTEE

FCC chair talks 'consequences' for “The View ”after Joy Behar's Donald Trump jab: 'Need a course-correction' in media

Brendan Carr told Fox News that networks will "run into issues like [Stephen] Colbert" if they don't check bias and continue to "run a partisan circus."

Joey Nolfi
Thu, July 24, 2025


John McDonnell/GettyJoy Behar on 'The View'; FCC chair Brendan Carr


The impact of Joy Behar's assertion that Donald Trump is jealous of Barack Obama's looks and marriage continues to reverberate through the government, as Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr has now spoken about "consequences" for the comedian and The View amid the fallout.

One day after the White House issued an exclusive statement to Entertainment Weekly floating the potential for The View to be "pulled off the air" after "irrelevant loser" Behar's comments, Carr appeared Thursday morning on Fox News program America's Newsroom to discuss the issue further with cohost Bill Hemmer.

"It's entirely possible that there's issues over there. Stepping back, this broader dynamic, once President Trump has exposed these media gatekeepers and smashed this facade, there's a lot of consequences," Carr speculated. "I think the consequences of that aren't quite finished."

Jeff Lipsky/ABC'The View' cohosts Sara Haines, Ana Navarro, Sunny Hostin, Joy Behar, Alyssa Farah Griffin, Whoopi Goldberg

He then alluded to legal expert Sunny Hostin's multiple legal notes on The View, that she often issued during episodes that saw the cohosts reacting to coverage of Trump's hush-money trial that ultimately ended with the president being convicted on 34 counts in May 2024.

Carr added that America needs "a course-correction" in terms of media coverage of the presidential administration.

"It's time for America's legacy broadcasters to return to promoting the public interest," he said, speculating that Skydance — which made headlines recently for its impending merger with Paramount — would fervently "root out bias" that would "return to unbiased, trustworthy journalism" in mainstream media.

"We're not where we need to go. I think this legacy media really needs to reorient, or they're going to continue to run into issues like [Stephen] Colbert, where it just doesn't make economic sense to run a partisan circus," Carr finished.

The FCC chair's statements clearly reference Paramount subsidiary CBS' announcement last week that the Trump-critical Late Night With Stephen Colbert would end in May 2026, which led many (including Sen. Elizabeth Warren) to speculate that the move was made to sweeten the FCC's interest in approving the Skydance-Paramount merge.

EW has reached out to representatives for The View, Carr, and the White House for comment.

Behar's initial response came after Trump's shocking, widely disputed allegation Tuesday that Obama "was trying to lead a coup" against the United States government, which the former president called "bizarre and ridiculous" in a rare reaction statement.

John McDonnell/GettyFCC chair Brendan Carr

The 82-year-old comedian said on the talk show, "The thing about him is he's so jealous of Obama, because Obama is everything that he is not: Trim, smart, handsome, happily married, and can sing Al Green's song 'Let's Stay Together' better than Al Green. And Trump cannot stand it. It's driving him crazy."

The White House also took aim Thursday morning at Paramount+ animated comedy South Park's season 27 premiere, which depicted Trump disrobing and getting into bed in an attempt to seduce Satan.

"The left's hypocrisy truly has no end — for years they have come after South Park for what they labeled as 'offense' content, but suddenly they are praising the show," White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told EW via email, adding that "just like the creators of South Park, the left has no authentic or original content" to air.

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In addition to Behar, Hostin, and Whoopi Goldberg, who often speak liberal-leaning perspectives at the Hot Topics table, The View also includes two Republican cohosts in Ana Navarro and Trump's former White House communications staffer, Alyssa Farah Griffin, who worked under Trump's first presidential administration before resigning and subsequently speaking out against him.

Watch Carr discuss The View on Fox News in the video above.

 

After "The View" Accused Donald Trump Of Being Jealous Of Barack Obama, The White House Issued This Very Intimidating Response

Mychal Thompson
Thu, July 24, 2025 

The White House just issued a shocking statement on why The View should be "pulled off the air."

ABC

During a July 23 episode, cohosts — Whoopi Goldberg, Sara Haines, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, and Alyssa Farah Griffin — called out President Donald Trump's potential jealousy as the root of his ongoing criticism of Barack Obama.

ABC

On July 22, Trump accused Obama of "trying to lead a coup... with Hilary Clinton," referring to a report from Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, that challenged the 2017 assessment Russia favored Trump's 2016 election.

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images, AP

In response, Patrick Rodenbush, a spokesperson for Obama, said, "These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction. Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes."

Mandel Ngan / Getty Images

On The View, Whoopi Goldberg said, "A sitting president just accused a former president of treason," noting that it's a very serious allegation. "For me, didn't the Supreme Court under the guidance of [Trump], say that presidents have immunity? This means you have no right to try to take him to court because he did what he did as president," she continued. "Because if you say nobody has immunity or everybody, you have to decide which way you're going to go."

ABC

Joy Behar chimed in and added, "First of all, who tried to overthrow the government on Jan. 6? Who was that again? That was not Obama," referring to the 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol building.

ABC

Related: 21 Times Celebrities Were So, Soooooo Shady

"The thing about him is he's so jealous of Obama, because Obama is everything that he is not: trim, smart, handsome, happily married, and can sing Al Green's song 'Let's Stay Together' better than Al Green. And Trump cannot stand it. It's driving him crazy," Joy continued.

ABC

Joy later proposed that Obama sue Trump and Sunny weighed in, saying, "Obama still lives rent-free in his head. I think Michelle Obama still lives rent-free in his head, I think the fact that Malia graduated from Harvard still lives rent-free in his head, and it's just the very swag that Obama has that he will never have."

ABC

Of course, the White House had something to say about that episode of The View and the cohosts' remarks, specifically coming after Joy.

According to Entertainment Weekly, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in an email statement, "Joy Behar is an irrelevant loser suffering from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome," and the email also noted The View "hit the lowest ratings" recently.

EW reported the White House said, Joy "should self-reflect on her own jealousy of President Trump's historic popularity before her show is the next to be pulled off air."

Jenny Anderson / ABC via Getty Images

In response to the comment about The View's ratings, a spokesperson for the talk show told EW, they're "up in total viewers and women 18-49, versus the comparable weeks last season, to its most-watched in four years."

Jeff Neira / Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

Their statement added, "The View is ranking No.1 in households and total viewers among all network daytime talk shows and news programs for the fifth straight season."

 BuzzFeed.com

Congressional Black Caucus comes out swinging to defend Obama, demands Trump ODNI director Gabbard resign

Gerren Keith Gaynor
Thu, July 24, 2025

THE GRIO


(Photo: Getty Images)

In a letter, CBC members accuse National Intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard of “blatant misuse” of her role to “shield” Trump, who they describe as a “34-time convicted felon and adjudicated rapist from facing the truth.”

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus came out swinging in a letter to the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, who, along with President Donald Trump, has accused, without evidence, President Barack Obama of committing treason. The group of nearly two dozen Black lawmakers are calling on Gabbard to “immediately” resign.

Gabbard’s office recently released declassified documents, claiming them as “overwhelming evidence” that Obama and his senior staff “manufactured and politicized” intelligence evidence against President Trump related to Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.

“This is not only categorically false; it is a dangerous and deliberate distortion of reality,” reads the letter, led by U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif. “As Director of National Intelligence, your job is to safeguard truth, not spread propaganda. Instead, you have abused your position to promote a partisan narrative rooted in conspiracy and discredited claims.”

Some of the letter’s signees include U.S. Reps. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas; Yvette D. Clarke, chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; and LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., who is controversially facing charges brought by the Trump administration.

Kamlager-Dove told theGrio it was important for the Congressional Black Caucus, as the “conscience of the Congress” to get in front of the very public attacks on Obama. The congresswoman condemned Gabbard and the Trump administration for their public campaign to “malign” America’s first Black president.

WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 12: U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA) speaks during a news conference on the nomination of Kash Patel to be the next FBI Director at the U.S. Capitol on February 12, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)More

She told theGrio former President Obama had “far more integrity attached to his legacy than this current administration will ever know.”

Gabbard’s public release of Russia-related intelligence assessments involving former Obama officials has been heavily criticized by Democrats, who say the Trump administration is targeting Obama to distract from the political controversy that has faced President Donald Trump amid reports that he is mentioned in the FBI files related to convicted sex trafficker and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Despite Trump’s vow to release the full Epstein files, his administration announced in a DOJ memo that it would do no such thing. Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi have dismissed the calls for their release, arguing that much of its content involves explicit images and details about child sexual abuse.

However, calls for the Epstein files’ release have sustained–from Democrats and Republicans–amid reports that Trump was informed by Bondi that his name is mentioned in the documents. That fact has only fueled concerns about whether or not President Trump is hiding something.

The letter from the CBC accuses Gabbard of “blatant misuse” of her role as National Intelligence Director to “shield” Trump, who they describe as a “34-time convicted felon and adjudicated rapist.” They added, “[It’s] not only a moral failure, but a glaring betrayal of the very Constitution that you swore an oath to uphold.”

Trump’s latest attack on Obama is part of a years-long political feud. Trump’s political rise is tied to the racist “birther” conspiracy that Obama, the son of a white mother from Kansas and a Kenyan father, was not born in America and therefore not a U.S. citizen. Ironically, Trump is now aiming to end birthright citizenship in an attempt to mass deport immigrants.

(Photo: Getty Images)

Kamlager-Dove said she is not surprised by Trump taking aim at Obama, but said his call for Obama’s arrest over unproven claims is a “new low.” She explained, “I think it just goes back to the fact that he is deeply afraid of what’s in those [Epstein] files.”

More in Politics


John Bolton slams Tulsi Gabbard over ‘treasonous’ Obama report: ‘She’s imagined evidence that doesn’t exist’
The Independent

The congresswoman said Trump is also “jealous” of Obama and “incredibly intimidated” by Black Americans, telling theGrio, “We are living rent free in his head every single day.”

The CBC letter calls out Gabbard for her “poor judgment,” noting that while it is not her first, her targeting of Obama is her “most egregious” offense.

“The Intelligence Community must be guided by objectivity, professionalism, and fidelity to the facts. You have demonstrated none of these. Instead, you have politicized your office, undermined public trust, and embarrassed the very institution you were entrusted to lead,” said the group of Black lawmakers.

Patrick Rodenbush, a spokesperson for Obama, condemned the Trump administration’s “bizarre allegations” as “ridiculous and weak attempt at distraction.”

“Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes,” he said.

Kamlager-Dove, whose letter highlights Trump’s criminal record, said amid the Epstein controversy and the “distraction” campaign against Obama, it’s “important that we remember who Donald Trump is.”

“He was found liable. He does have a history of toxic interactions with women, and the Epstein files is a story about women being assaulted, being abused, possibly even being trafficked, and that being allowed to happen, and in fact, that being condoned and protected by the rich and powerful,” she told theGrio.

She added, “There’s a direct link between that story and this administration and who this person is.”

Trump’s chilling accusation against Obama will have cataclysmic consequences

John Casey
Thu, July 24, 2025 

THE ADVOCATE


ear bandaged President Donald Trump at the 2024 Republican National Convention alongside US President Barack Obama holding diploma and gold medal at ceremony after winning Nobel prize

Long before he descended that revolting gold escalator, Donald Trump found his political footing on a lie, a deeply racist one. The “birther” conspiracy, which falsely claimed that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States, was not just a fringe delusion.

Trump mainstreamed it. He nurtured it. And he wielded it cynically to stoke white grievance and vault himself into the political spotlight. That lie was the foundation for his eventual run in 2016. And now, nearly a decade later, Trump has doubled down with something even more dangerous. He’s accusing Obama of treason.

It’s blasphemy, multiplied by a hundred.

The birther conspiracy was not just a harmless political jab. It was designed to delegitimize the nation’s first Black president in the eyes of white America. It was sinister. It was racist — that bears repeating. And it worked. Trump’s relentless questioning of Obama’s citizenship signaled to millions that he was willing to say what others wouldn’t.

It endeared him to the most toxic elements of the right, and launched him straight into the 2016 Republican primaries. And when Obama roasted him at the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner, a sorry-faced Trump presumably vowed revenge, starting with the 2016 election, reasoning why not show them all..

Trump is such a petty man, as Obama soars above him, and that pisses the petty man off.

That election, as confirmed by both U.S. intelligence and bipartisan Senate findings, was hijacked by foreign interference. Russia did interfere in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump. That isn’t partisan spin. It’s the official conclusion of the Senate Intelligence Committee, then cochaired by Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who now of course is the Trump’s bootlicking secretary of State.

It’s backed by the Mueller report, by unanimous findings from Trump’s own intelligence chiefs, and even by Tulsi Gabbard, now Trump’s own director of national intelligence, who acknowledged the interference on Joe Rogan’s podcast in 2018.

And yet, Gabbard has now orchestrated a grotesque reversal to serve her boss. Her new “investigative” report, shamefully labeling the assertions of Russian interference a “seditious conspiracy,” attempts to pin the blame for said interference not on Trump’s campaign (where it belongs) but on President Obama.

It’s a stomach-turning betrayal of truth and patriotism, and it reveals how far Trump’s inner circle is willing to go to feed his obsession with retribution. Obama essentially made Trump look like a liar with the “birther” controversy, and Trump wants revenge.

The truth is Barack Obama had zero influence on the bipartisan Senate report, zero influence on the Mueller investigation, and zero participation in any fabricated “conspiracy.” His administration warned about Russian interference. Trump’s people welcomed it. And now, in a grotesque act of projection, they’re blaming Obama for their own disgrace.

That’s really it. Trump knows Obama can disgrace him, so Trump attempts to disgrace Obama, and in turn becomes a disgrace.

And Trump, never one to let go of a lie, took it a step further. In an unhinged rant, he accused Obama of treason and suggested he should be prosecuted. This is no longer politics based on being embarrassed by Obama more than once. It’s a fascist fantasy. Trump, the man who pardoned actual seditionists from the January 6 insurrection, is now smearing the most admired president in modern American history.

This isn’t just wrong. It’s dangerous.

Let’s not underestimate the consequences. Trump’s MAGA base, riled up once before by the birther lie, now has new marching orders. They’ve already shown they’re willing to take violent action based on Trump’s words. And now he’s accusing Obama, without evidence, of the highest crime in the nation. This is a red line. Someone could get hurt. Someone could get killed.

Make no mistake: When Donald Trump calls Barack Obama “treasonous,” he’s lighting the same match he used to ignite the birther lie. This is a calculated attempt to inflame his white supremacist base with the ugliest weapon in his arsenal, and that is racist hate dressed up as patriotism.

Even President Obama, usually restrained in his public comments, felt compelled to respond. In a statement, he denounced the accusations as “completely baseless” and “profoundly irresponsible.” And they are. But Obama’s response won’t reach MAGA America. They’ll believe Trump. They always do. Truth doesn’t matter in a movement built on lies.

In fact, they despise Obama and everything he stands for, which includes honesty and decency, something severely lacking in political discourse at the moment.

And the timing is no coincidence. Trump is on a scorched-earth retribution tour. From threatening to prosecute journalists to installing loyalists like Gabbard to rewrite history, Trump’s authoritarian turn is no longer hypothetical. It’s here. And it’s getting worse.

His enablers, Rubio, Gabbard, and others, know the truth. They read the same reports. They know Russia interfered. They know Obama didn’t conspire. But they are willing to lie, to defame, and to endanger lives to keep Trump’s ego intact. It’s shameful. It’s disqualifying. And in any functioning democracy, it would be criminal.

Trump built his movement on a lie. But this new lie, this grotesque, reckless accusation of treason, is a threat to the republic itself. It poisons the well of democratic discourse. It incites hatred. And it opens the door to political violence on a scale we’ve never seen before.

It’s hard to grasp the severity of this, but we can’t look away, and we most certainly can’t normalize it. And we can’t wait until someone is harmed to say, “We should have known.”

However, I have a genuine concern and fear that that is what’s going to happen.

Voices is dedicated to featuring a wide range of inspiring personal stories and impactful opinions from the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. Visit Advocate.com/submit to learn more about submission guidelines. Views expressed in Voices stories are those of the guest writers, columnists, and editors, and do not directly represent the views of The Advocate or our parent company, equalpride.

This article originally appeared on Advocate: Trump’s chilling accusation against Obama will have cataclysmic consequences

GOP Senator Says Timing Of Tulsi Gabbard's Obama Conspiracy Push Seems Curious

Marita Vlachou

Thu, July 24, 2025 


Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on Wednesday said Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s claims that former President Barack Obama’s administration orchestrated a “yearslong coup and treasonous conspiracy” to undermine Donald Trump seems to be part of an effort by the White House to sweep the Jeffrey Epstein controversy under the rug.

In an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Murkowski said Gabbard’s actions suggest the Trump administration is “trying to deflect” from questions surrounding Epstein by resorting to “things that may be prior history.”

“Words like treason are big words, right?” Murkowski said.

“It does cause one to wonder if this is an effort by folks in the administration to have the conversation move on to something else, other than the Epstein matter, move on to something else, another, somebody other than President Trump so let’s go back to prior presidents,” she added.

Asked if she thinks Gabbard’s actions are a “distraction technique,” the Alaska senator replied: “Based on the timing of all of this, it does kind of cause you to question.”

Trump last week falsely claimed that he had no help from Russia in the 2016 presidential election, accusing Obama of the “highest level Election Fraud.” His baseless accusations were echoed by Gabbard, who sought to rewrite history by releasing a document that she said undercut the intelligence community’s claim that the Kremlin wanted Trump to win the 2016 race.

Both special counsel Robert Mueller and the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee had concluded that Russia actively worked to help Trump win.

Meanwhile, Murkowski urged Trump to release all files related to Epstein to put the issue behind him once and for all.

“Just be done with it. Be done with it,” she said. “If, in fact, there’s no there there for the president, get it out there. Just get it out there and be done.”

The controversy has been heating up in recent weeks following the release of a memo by the FBI and the Justice Department earlier this month asserting there was no evidence to suggest Epstein’s death wasn’t a suicide or that he held a client list to blackmail people. The document directly undercut Attorney General Pam Bondi’s comments to Fox News in February that Epstein’s client list was “sitting on my desk right now to review.”

Trump’s efforts to diffuse interest into the story, soliciting the help of GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), have been fruitless against an onslaught of reports prompting renewed scrutiny into his ties to Epstein, who died in federal prison one month after being arrested on charges of sex trafficking minors in 2019, during Trump’s first term in office.

The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday reported that Bondi told Trump in May that his name was in the Epstein files multiple times. The fact that Trump was named in the files does not suggest he committed any wrongdoing, the Journal noted. Trump’s team dismissed the story as “fake news.”



James Carville Gives Fox News Viewers An Uncomfortable Reminder About Jeffrey Epstein
HuffPost

The outlet had previously reported the president had written a “bawdy” letter to Epstein in 2003 as part of a surprise for the disgraced financier’s 50th birthday put together by his girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell. Trump sued the paper for libel over the report, which he described as untruthful.

CNN this week also released photos showing Epstein attending Trump’s wedding to Marla Maples as well as video showing the two men appearing at a Victoria’s Secret fashion event in 1999.

‘Pod Save America’ on Gabbard’s Obama allegations: ‘Crock of s‑‑‑’

Amalia Huot-Marchand
Fri, July 25, 2025 

‘Pod Save America’ on Gabbard’s Obama allegations: ‘Crock of s‑‑‑’


“Pod Save America” host Dan Pfeiffer railed against Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s accusations that the Obama administration led a “treasonous coup” over the 2016 election.

“I don’t think we should call this a scandal,” Pfeiffer, a onetime adviser to former President Obama, said in a Friday episode of the podcast. “Like I don’t know what else to call it, a crock of s‑‑‑.”

“They can’t even explain the allegation. It makes no sense,” he continued. “This is the most easily debunked thing in the world.”

Last week, Gabbard released a report claiming that the Obama administration manipulated intelligence to create a false narrative that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.

Gabbard then doubled down on the accusation and unsealed a formerly classified House Intelligence Committee report Wednesday that cast doubts on the Eurasian country’s interest in the 2016 election and his desire to aid President Trump.

She called the Obama administration’s reported actions “the most egregious weaponization and politicization of intelligence in American history.”

Several intelligence reviews have concluded that Russia sought to influence the contest and that President Vladimir Putin favored Trump in the election.

Gabbard, at a White House press briefing Wednesday, claimed that the evidence pointed to Obama as the main instigator of the efforts and said she was looking into possible criminal implications.

Trump backed Gabbard, calling the intelligence assessment “irrefutable proof that Obama was seditious.”

“I guess the crime is the creating a false narrative,” co-host Jon Favreau, former Obama speechwriter, said on the Friday episode. “I didn’t think a false narrative could be a coup.”

The podcast hosts join fellow Democrats in criticizing Gabbard, particularly as fervor grows surrounding the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, which Democrats — and even some Republicans — have called to be released.

“It seems as though the Trump administration is willing to declassify anything and everything except the Epstein files,” Sen. Mark Warner (Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.

How Tulsi Gabbard is trying to rewrite the history of the 2016 election

Analysis by Zachary B. Wolf, CNN
Sat, July 26, 2025 

LONG READ


Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on Wednesday. - Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP


A version of this story appeared in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.

The director of national intelligence told Americans this week that what everyone has known about the 2016 election is backwards.

The US intelligence community; bipartisan Senate review; the Mueller report; the Durham report — years of investigations concluded or did not dispute the idea that 

In Gabbard’s telling, the idea that Russia meddled and that it favored Trump is a narrative spun out of a conspiracy hatched by then-President Barack Obama to undermine Trump from the get-go. Trump clearly approves of Gabbard’s version, although there’s no evidence to support her claims.

Both Trump and Gabbard said Obama could be guilty of treason, which they did not mention is a crime punishable by death. Both Trump and Gabbard left it to Attorney General Pam Bondi to figure out the legal ramifications.

Obama, obviously, disputed the claims, which go against the documented fact pattern, and issued a rare statement condemning Gabbard’s spectacular claims.

I went to CNN’s Jeremy Herb to better understand what the facts say and how Gabbard is trying to undermine them. Our conversation, conducted by email, is below.
What does Gabbard say happened in 2016?

WOLF: Tulsi Gabbard and Donald Trump appear to be trying to flip the script on the history of the 2016 election. What is the broad outline of the allegation?

HERB: Trump, Gabbard and their conservative allies allege that after the 2016 election, President Barack Obama ordered US intelligence agencies to compile an assessment of Russian election interference in order to undermine Trump’s legitimacy before he took office. Gabbard accuses the Obama administration of “manufacturing” the intelligence in the January 2017 report, which contained the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered and sought to help Trump win. Both she and Trump have suggested Obama and his team were “treasonous.”
What does the evidence suggest actually happened in 2016?

WOLF: What is the broad outline of what we actually know happened in 2016?

HERB: The assessment released by the intelligence community after the 2016 election documented Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 election.

The unclassified version of the report was released in January 2017, detailing both a social media influence campaign and cyber operations like the hacking and strategic release of Democrats’ emails by Wikileaks. The assessment made several judgments, including:

► that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign to undermine faith in the democratic process, denigrate Hillary Clinton and harm her electability and potential presidency,

► that Putin and the Russian government developed a clear preference for Trump,

► that Putin and the Russian government aspired to help Trump’s election chances.

It’s the third assessment — which was made with high confidence by the FBI and CIA and medium confidence by the NSA — that’s been the source of criticism from Trump’s allies for years.

Why don’t Gabbard’s claims make sense?

WOLF: Is there any evidence to contradict what Trump and Gabbard are alleging?

HERB: There’s plenty, including even in the documents that Gabbard has released so far.

Gabbard has declassified two sets of documents. She claimed the first set, released last week, was evidence that the intelligence community found before the Obama-ordered assessment that Russia did not hack election infrastructure to alter the election outcome. But that isn’t what the intelligence community concluded in the assessment in the first place: Intelligence officials alleged that Russia carried out an influence and hacking campaign to influence voters — they never claimed Russia changed vote tallies. Our sources who previously scrutinized the assessment said Gabbard was conflating two things to try to make a political point; one called it “wildly misleading.”

The newest set of documents, released Wednesday, is a previously classified Republican congressional report from 2017 challenging one of the conclusions from the intelligence community assessment: that Putin aspired to help Trump in 2016. It alleges that the assessment made leaps of logic based on thin sourcing and failed to weigh contradictory evidence.

But disputing the way raw intelligence was analyzed is not the same thing as alleging the intelligence community “manufactured” intelligence — and CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s own review of the intelligence assessment doesn’t support Gabbard’s allegation, either.

There are other holes in Gabbard’s narrative.

She said that a draft of the December 8, 2016, president’s daily brief was shelved after it stated that Russian actors “did not impact recent US election results” by conducting cyber attacks on election infrastructure.

The next day, Gabbard alleged, Obama and his team launched the effort for a new assessment to claim the “election was ‘hacked,’” pointing to a high-level meeting of Obama officials on December 9.

The problem? According to the Senate Intelligence Committee, Obama instructed then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to prepare a report on Russian election interference on December 6 — two days before the alleged shelving of the presidential brief on election infrastructure.
Where did the report Gabbard released come from?

WOLF: Who wrote this 2017 House intelligence committee report Gabbard has made public? Why wasn’t it released before?

HERB: Trump and his allies in Congress have wanted to release the House Intelligence Committee report for years.

It was drafted by Republicans during the first Trump administration when the panel was chaired by former Rep. Devin Nunes, now CEO of Trump’s social media company. Kash Patel, now Trump’s FBI director, was a top committee aide. The intelligence the committee scrutinized was so sensitive that the CIA only allowed staffers and lawmakers to view it and work on their report at CIA headquarters. The committee brought in a safe to lock up its material, which was kept in a CIA vault; it became known as a “turducken,” or a safe within a safe.

Before the 2020 election, Trump’s allies pushed Ratcliffe, who was director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term, to declassify and release the report. But he declined to do so amid strenuous pushback by CIA and NSA officials because of the sensitive information contained in it.

Democrats and former intelligence officials warned us that even with the redactions contained in Wednesday’s release, there was still information contained in the report that could risk exposing sources and methods to the Russians.

The raw intelligence contained in this classified House report is part of what prompted the intelligence community to grow so concerned when a binder full of documents related to the FBI’s Russia investigation went missing at the end of the first Trump administration.
What is the universe of reports on meddling in the 2016 election?

WOLF: There have been many reports that support the accepted narrative that Russia meddled to help Trump in 2016. Which are the most important?

HERB: The Senate Intelligence Committee also spent several years investigating Russian election interference, and that panel — on a bipartisan basis — came to the opposite conclusion as House Republicans on the intelligence assessment.

The Senate panel found that the judgments made by the intelligence assessment were well-supported and did not have any “significant analytic tradecraft issues.”

“The Committee found that the ICA presents information from public Russian leadership commentary, Russian state media reports, and specific intelligence reporting to support the assessment that Putin and the Russian Government demonstrated a preference for candidate Trump,” the 2020 Senate report stated.

It’s important to note that the bipartisan report came from a Republican-led committee, chaired through most of the investigation by then-Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina. When the report was released, the panel was led by Marco Rubio — now Trump’s secretary of state.

The intelligence community’s assessment of Russian interference has also been a topic for the Justice Department’s inspector general, as well as special counsels Robert Mueller and John Durham.

Durham was appointed by then-Attorney General Bill Barr in Trump’s first term to investigate potential wrongdoing, including anti-Trump bias, during the FBI’s early investigation into Russia and the Trump campaign. He also probed whether there was any wrongdoing by the FBI and intelligence community during the 2016 post-election period but never accused any US officials of any crimes related to the 2017 intelligence assessment.

Trump has a track record of ordering investigations that don’t deliver

WOLF: The president has promised investigations in the past that have failed to uncover massive anti-Trump conspiracies. His first-term inquiry into election fraud found none. Durham’s sprawling probe fell far short of Trump’s sky-high expectations. Is that what will happen here?

HERB: On Wednesday evening, Bondi announced a strike force that would be dedicated to investigating the documents Gabbard had released and her allegations that the Obama administration “manufactured” evidence about Russia’s election interference.

That followed reports from CNN and others earlier this month that the FBI was investigating former Obama-era CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey following a referral from Ratcliffe in his review of the intelligence community assessment.

Will those investigations lead to breaking new ground and criminal charges? It’s impossible to say, of course. But as I noted above, Durham was appointed by the Trump Justice Department and conducted a four-year investigation into all topics related to the origins of the Russia investigation, which included questioning Brennan in 2020. (Brennan, who denies wrongdoing, was never charged.)

And despite Gabbard’s claims, there’s nothing in the documents she released that appears to fundamentally change what we knew about the assessment the intelligence community created in 2017 or the conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.

And then there’s the Steele dossier

WOLF: What about the dossier? Was that part of this intelligence assessment and the latest allegations?

HERB: A summary of the infamous dossier from British intelligence officer Christopher Steele was included as an annex to the January 2017 intelligence community assessment. The inclusion of the dossier in the assessment — and the news first broken by CNN of the dossier’s existence soon thereafter — is part of why Trump and his allies are so critical of the intelligence community’s assessment in the first place.

The dossier was paid for by the Clinton campaign and included many wild and salacious allegations involving Trump and his campaign that were ultimately discredited. The FBI also erred in using the dossier to wrongly obtain two FISA surveillance warrants on a former Trump campaign adviser.

But reviews of the intelligence community’s assessment have shown that the dossier was not behind the analysis in the assessment, as Gabbard has tried to claim over the past week.

The Senate Intelligence investigation interviewed the analysts who prepared the report. There was a debate between the FBI and CIA over whether the dossier should have been included in the assessment — it was left out at the insistence of CIA officials.

“All individuals the Committee interviewed stated that the Steele material did not in any way inform the analysis in the ICA — including the key judgments — because it was unverified information and had not been disseminated as serialized intelligence reporting,” the Senate report states.
What does the evidence say about Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia?

WOLF: Trump has repeated the term “Russia hoax” so much that it is hardwired in people’s brains. But there were many documented ties between Russians and Trump’s campaign in the Mueller report. Is there political risk to Trump relitigating the 2016 election again?

HERB: Trump and his allies have undertaken a yearslong campaign to discredit all attempts to tie Russian interference to Trump, including the intelligence community assessment, the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation and the Mueller investigation.

Trump’s allies helped unearth numerous missteps in the investigations, from FBI’s errors relying on the dossier to obtain FISA warrants to the anti-Trump text messages exchanged between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.

But Trump’s repeated claims that the whole 2016 investigation was a hoax ignore the fact that numerous investigations effectively documented that Russia did in fact interfere. The Mueller probe did not establish a criminal conspiracy between the Russians and the Trump campaign, but the special counsel did document dozens of Trump-Russia contacts during the campaign, despite Trump repeatedly claiming falsely that no contacts existed. Most notably, the contacts included Donald Trump Jr.’s Trump Tower meeting where he was offered, and welcomed, “dirt” on Hillary Clinton.

The Senate Intelligence Committee investigation, released in 2020, went even further than Mueller to detail contacts between Russian government agents and the Trump campaign.

But like Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election, the president’s focus on Russian election interference pushes aside any information contrary to his narrative. He’s cheered on Gabbard — whose standing in the Trump administration had been in question following the Iran strikes — as she’s launched the latest attacks to back up Trump’s claim of a Russian hoax.