TACO

Trump administration drops suits against law firms with ties to Democrats and other Trump foes

Katelyn Polantz, CNN
Mon, March 2, 2026 


President Donald Trump stops to speak to the media as he departs the White House on February 27, 2026. - Heather Diehl/Getty Images/File

The Trump administration has decided to drop its prolonged court fights against four law firms with ties to Democrats, after it had sought and failed to cut out the firms’ access to the federal government as part of an apparent retribution campaign by President Donald Trump.

Despite Trump’s dislike for certain lawyers who had opposed him at the firms and his attempts to use executive orders against them, the firms – Perkins Coie, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr, Jenner & Block and Susman Godfrey – had each been protected by federal judges in Washington, DC, who ruled against the administration last year.

Each of the firms, Trump said, had employed lawyers who had investigated or opposed him personally. He attempted to use the powers of the presidency to deprive the firms’ lawyers of access to federal buildings, secured classified information and meetings with federal agencies – all mainstays of Washington-based legal work.

The firms were notified by the administration this weekend that it was dropping its appeals, according to a source familiar with the decision. A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment.

The administration was appealing its court losses and had been delaying proceedings from moving forward at the US DC Circuit Court of Appeals. Filings were due beginning later this week.

The cases had been some of the most shocking attempts at retribution by Trump for his own past legal issues, with Trump aiming at large and well-known firms with prominent lawyers who had ties to Democratic administrations and the party.

Other firms under threat of similar Trump executive orders cut deals with the administration and changed their approach, especially by shifting the political leanings in the pro bono work they were willing to do, from liberal causes to more conservative ones.

Though the executive orders didn’t survive in court, they have widely curtailed large American law firms’ willingness to oppose the administration and represent progressive causes publicly.

Top Justice Department lawyers from the Biden and Obama administrations, for instance, have also found more difficulty in landing or staying at large law firms, as would be typical after prior administration changeovers in Washington, with some starting their own small white collar firms instead.

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Trump Says He’s ‘Entitled’ to Illegal Third Term as Allies Draft Voter Suppression Decree

Extensions of presidential terms or abolition of limits are hallmarks of dictators and backsliding leaders of erstwhile democracies.


US President Donald Trump dances on stage during a tour of the the al-Udeid Air Base in Doha, Qatar on May 15, 2025.
(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Brett Wilkins
Feb 27, 2026
COMMON DREAMS


President Donald Trump raised eyebrows and angst among democracy defenders Friday for saying he deserves an unconstitutional third term in office, remarks that came a day after reporting that right-wing activists are drafting an executive order that could empower him to ban mail-in ballots and voting machines ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

“Maybe we do one more term. Should we do one more?” the 79-year-old Republican president asked attendees of an event at the Port of Corpus Christi in Texas, to roaring applause. “Do one more term. Well, we are entitled to it.”

During his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Trump rehashed his thoroughly debunked claim that Democrats stole the 2020 election for former President Joe Biden, saying this “should be my third term.”

A third term would require a constitutional amendment, as the 22nd Amendment restricts US presidents to two terms in office.

Extensions of presidential terms or abolition of limits are hallmarks of dictators and backsliding leaders of erstwhile democracies. After Chinese President Xi Jinping lifted constitutional term limits in 2018, Trump marveled, “He’s great,” adding, “He’s now president for life.”




Trump has made cryptic allusions to a third term in office on multiple occasions.

While many Trump supporters believe he should also be president for life, his allies in actual positions of power—including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and political strategist and convicted fraudster Steve Bannon, whom Trump granted clemency—have backed a third term for his administration.

A constitutional amendment enabling a third Trump term is not under any consideration and is all but impossible by the 2028 election. So Trump and his allies are working on other ways for the president to remain in office, focusing heavily on voter suppression. The Washington Post reported Thursday that a group of right-wing activists is writing a draft decree that would give the president “extraordinary power over voting.” On Friday, Democracy Docket published an April 2025 version of the draft order provided by a Trump ally, which the outlet described as “riddled with errors.”

According to the Post, the draft executive order would cite the pretext of alleged Chinese interference in the 2020 election. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence concluded that there was no such interference.

MS NOW national security contributor Marc Polymeropoulos called the draft order “batshit authoritarianism.”

Exposed: Trump officials pitched federal control of midterms at election denier summit

By Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America - Michael Flynn, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52646557

Doug Bock Clark
Pro Publica

March 01, 2026 


Several high-ranking federal election officials attended a summit last week at which prominent figures who worked to overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election pressed the president to declare a national emergency to take over this year’s midterms.

According to videos, photos and social media posts reviewed by ProPublica, the meeting’s participants included Kurt Olsen, a White House lawyer charged with reinvestigating the 2020 election, and Heather Honey, the Department of Homeland Security official in charge of election integrity. The event was convened by Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, and attended by Cleta Mitchell, who directs the Election Integrity Network, a group that has spread false claims about election fraud and noncitizen voting.

Election experts say that the meeting reflects an intensifying push to persuade Trump to take unprecedented actions to affect the vote in November. Courts have largely blocked his efforts to reshape elections through an executive order, and legislation has stalled in Congress that would mandate strict voter ID requirements across the country.

The Washington Post reported Thursday that activists associated with those at the summit have been circulating a draft of an executive order that would ban mail-in ballots and get rid of voting machines as part of a federal takeover. Peter Ticktin, a lawyer who worked on the executive order and had a client at the summit, told ProPublica these actions were “all part of the same effort.”

The summit followed other meetings and discussions between administration officials and activists — many not previously reported — stretching back to at least last fall, according to emails and recordings obtained by ProPublica. The coordination between those inside and outside the government represents a breakdown of crucial guardrails, experts on U.S. elections said.

“The meeting shows that the same people who tried to overturn the 2020 election have only grown better organized and are now embedded in the machinery of government,” said Brendan Fischer, a director at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan pro-democracy organization. “This creates substantial risk that the administration is laying the groundwork to improperly reshape elections ahead of the midterms or even go against the will of the voters.”

Five of six federal officials who attended the summit didn’t answer questions about the event from ProPublica.

A White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said federal officials’ attendance at the gathering shouldn’t be construed as support for a national emergency declaration and that it was “common practice” for staffers to communicate with outside advocates who want to share policy ideas. The official pointed to comments Trump made to PBS News denying he was considering a national emergency or had read the draft executive order. “Any speculation about policies the administration may or may not undertake is just that — speculation,” the official said.

In the past, Trump has expressed an openness to a federal takeover as a way to stem projected Republican losses in November. This month, he said in an interview with conservative podcaster Dan Bongino that Republicans need “to take over” elections and “to nationalize the voting.”

Mitchell did not respond to questions from ProPublica about the summit. A spokesperson for Flynn responded to detailed questions from ProPublica by disparaging experts who expressed concerns, texting, “LOL ‘EXPERTS.’”

The 30-person roundtable discussion on Feb. 19, at an office building in downtown Washington, D.C., was sponsored by the Gold Institute for International Strategy, a conservative think tank. Afterward, activists and government officials dined together, photos reviewed by ProPublica showed.

Flynn, the institute’s chair, told a social media personality why he’d arranged the event.

“I wanted to bring this group together physically, because most of us have met online” while “fighting battles” in swing states from Arizona to Georgia, Flynn said to Tommy Robinson on the gathering’s sidelines. Robinson posted videos of these interactions online. “The overall theme of this event was to make sure that all of us aren’t operating in our own little bubbles.”

Flynn has repeatedly advocated for Trump to declare a national emergency and posted on social media after the event addressing Trump, “We The People want fair elections and we know there is only one office in the land that can make that happen given the current political environment in the United States.”

In addition to Olsen and Honey, four other federal officials from agencies that will shape the upcoming elections attended the event. At least four of the six attended the dinner.

One is Clay Parikh, a special government employee at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence who’s helping Olsen with the 2020 inquiry. A spokesperson at ODNI said Parikh had attended the summit “in his personal capacity.”

Another, Mac Warner, handled election litigation at the Justice Department. A department spokesperson said that Warner had resigned the day after the event and had not received the required approval from agency ethics officials to participate.

The department “remains committed to upholding the integrity of our electoral system and will continue to prioritize efforts to ensure all elections remain free, fair, and transparent,” the spokesperson said in an email.

A third administration official who attended the summit, Marci McCarthy, directs communications for the nation’s cyber defense agency, which oversees the security of elections infrastructure like voting machines.

Kari Lake, whom Trump appointed as senior adviser to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, was a featured speaker. Lake worked with Olsen and Parikh in her unsuccessful bid to overturn her loss in the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election.

Lake said in an email that she “showed up to the event, spoke for about 20 minutes about the overall importance of election integrity, a non-partisan issue that matters to all citizens — both in the United States and abroad. I left without listening to any other speeches.”

“Elections should be free from fraud or any other malfeasance that subverts the will of the people,” she added.

At the meeting, activists presented on ways to transform American elections that would help conservatives, according to social media posts and interviews they gave on conservative media, such as LindellTV, a streaming platform created by the pillow mogul Mike Lindell. They said the group broke down into two camps: those who wanted to pursue a more incremental legal and legislative strategy and those who wanted Trump to declare a national emergency.

Multiple activists left the meeting convinced Trump should do the latter, a step they believe would allow the president to get around the Constitution’s directive that elections should be run by states.

Former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne, a prominent funder of efforts to overturn the 2020 election, told LindellTV that Trump has “played nice” so far in not seizing control of American elections. “But at some point,” Byrne said, “he’s got to do something, the muscular thing: declare a national emergency.”

Byrne responded to questions from ProPublica by sending a screenshot of a poll that he said suggested “2/3 of Americans correctly do not trust” voting machines, which the proposed national emergency declaration aims to do away with.

Will Huff, who has advocated for doing away with voting machines, told a conservative vlogger that Olsen, the White House lawyer, and other administration representatives would take the “consensus” from the gathering back to Trump. “It’s got to be a national emergency,” said Huff, the campaign manager for a Republican candidate for Arkansas secretary of state.

In response to questions from ProPublica, Huff said in an email that Olsen and Trump would use their judgment to decide whether to declare a national emergency.

“The President has been briefed on findings of shortcomings in election infrastructure,” Huff wrote. “I believe there are steady hands around the President wanting to ensure that any action taken is, first, constitutional and legal, but also backed by evidence.”

McCarthy, the cybersecurity official, expressed more general solidarity with fellow attendees in a post on social media about the summit. “Grateful for friendships forged through years of standing shoulder-to-shoulder, united by purpose and conviction,” she wrote. “The mission continues… and so does the fellowship.”

Last week’s gathering was the latest in a string of private interactions between conservative election activists and administration officials, according to emails, documents and recordings obtained by ProPublica. Many have involved Mitchell’s Election Integrity Network. Before taking her government post, Honey was a leader in the Election Integrity Network, ProPublica has reported, as was McCarthy.

Previously unreported emails obtained by ProPublica show that just weeks after Honey started at the Department of Homeland Security, she briefed election activists, a Republican secretary of state and another federal official on a conference call arranged by her former boss, Mitchell.

“We are excited to welcome her on our call this morning to hear about her work for election integrity inside DHS,” Mitchell wrote in an email introducing presenters on the call.

Honey didn’t respond to questions from ProPublica about the call. Experts said Honey’s briefing gave her former employer access that likely would have violated ethics rules in place under previous administrations, including the first Trump administration — though not this one.

The prior “ethics guardrails would have prevented some of the revolving door issues we’re seeing between the election denial movement and the government officials,” said Fischer, the Campaign Legal Center director. Those prior rules “were supposed to prevent former employers and clients from receiving privileged access.”

THE EPSTEIN CLASS

Trump’s Epstein fiasco is turning everyone into conspiracy theorists: analysis

Photo from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein that includes Donald Trump. (Photo: Epstein Estate/House Oversight and Reform Committee)

Thomas Kika

March 02, 2026 

ALTERNET

The Trump administration's botched rollout of the Epstein files, as well as the revelations contained within them, have produced a world where even "normal" people have become conspiracy theorists, according to the new analysis from Salon.

Published on Monday, the breakdown from Salon senior writer Andi Zeisler examined how the fallout of the files has impacted the wider culture. She noted that the revelations about Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased sex trafficker with close connections to Donald Trump and numerous other elite public figures, have unsurprisingly provided a wealth of new material for conspiracy theorists, but additionally, they also seem to have spread conspiratorial thinking beyond the typical boundaries.

"The Epstein files were always going to be a gift to conspiracy theorists, and have indeed resulted in a raft of brand new theories, including one that has Epstein alive and well and living in Israel," Zeisler wrote. "But parsing the tranches of documents — the most recent release puts the total at roughly 3.5 million pages — turns out to be making [normal people] feel suspicious too. All over social media, people with no ties to conspiracy communities are unsettled by what they reveal: The sheer breadth of Epstein’s network, the casual references to abuse, the confirmation of everything that hid in plain sight."

According to Zeisler, the chaotic state in which the files were released to the public by the Justice Department has also contributed to this phenomenon, as it forced the public to make their own sense of things.

"There’s no order to the files themselves: No indexing, no differentiation between material evidence and uninvestigated complaints, missing files and overenthusiastic redactions — a build-your-own-conspiracy board minus the red twine," Zeisler explained.

Others have also argued that the Trump administration's handling of the disclosure has sown doubt amongst the public in a way that the president might never be able to shake. Despite pledging to release the files on the campaign trail in 2024, once in office, Trump became highly resistant to the idea, with his officials in the DOJ and FBI claiming at one point that there were no files. Once an act of Congress forced their disclosure, the DOJ missed several deadlines for the full release and released numerous pages with heavy redactions. The sum of it all has been a situation in which a plurality of the public believes that the government is covering something up.

Conspiracy theory expert Anna Merlan told Zeisler that the sheer magnitude of Epstein's connections to powerful figures also made it difficult for people to escape conspiratorial thinking, as the revelations about his connections contained in the files painted a picture of someone with vast influence.

"[Epstein] had so much to do with so many famous and powerful people, and was involved in so many things," Merlan said. "So part of the reason we’re seeing [the Epstein files] and going, 'Wow, he’s everywhere, he’s the grand unified answer to every bit of corruption that is plaguing us,' is because, by design, he tried to be everywhere. He worked very, very hard at it."

Trump Humiliated as Epstein ‘Walk of Shame’ Pops Up Near White House

Cameron Adams
Sun, March 1, 2026 

THE DAILY BEAST

A rogue “Jeffrey Epstein Walk of Shame” highlighting politicians and businesspeople with links to the late child sex offender has surfaced near the White House.

The stickers, designed to resemble the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, were photographed by Getty on Sunday, with Epstein’s face replacing the symbols of TV, film, music or theatre on the regular plaques.

It’s unclear who is responsible, but they were placed around Farragut Square in Washington, a five-minute walk from the White House.

People walk along the “Jeffrey Epstein Walk of Shame,” which features prominent names from the Epstein files, near the White House on March 1, 2026, in Washington, D.C. / BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty ImagesMore

Each sticker has a QR code that, when scanned, opens to documents on the Department of Justice website or to information linking the person to Epstein, according to MS Now.

Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell also features with the caption “child sex trafficker.” Maxwell, 64, was jailed for 20 years for sex trafficking in June 2022. In August last year, with the approval of the Trump administration, she was moved to a low-security prison camp in Texas.

A dog investigates Ghislaine Maxwell’s star on the “Jeffrey Epstein Walk of Shame” in Washington, D.C. / BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images

A star for billionaire Elon Musk, 54, appeared to have been ripped up on Sunday, but a QR code left behind opens to the Department of Justice website and a 2012 email from Epstein to Musk. In it, Epstein asks, “how many people will you be for the heli to the island,” with Musk replying, “Probably just Talulah and me. What day/night will be the wildest party on your island?”

After the files were released, Musk posted on his platform X that “no one pushed harder than me” to get the Epstein files released and insisted he “declined repeated invitations” to go to his island, but noted he was “aware that some email correspondence with him could be misinterpreted and used by detractors to smear my name.”

A pigeon pays respect to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s star. / BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images

Billionaire Howard Lutnick, the Donald Trump-appointed Secretary of Commerce, also features in the “Walk of Shame.”

Lutnick, 64, previously claimed he only met Epstein once, in 2005, and then cut off all contact. However, the latest dump of Epstein files contained emails between the pair years after Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor in 2008.

The Republican also admitted he had lunch with Epstein in 2012, and took his wife, four children and their nannies. Last week, a photograph appearing to show Lutnick with Epstein on an island surfaced.

The DOJ said the photo was “part of a batch of files that were flagged for nudity” and had not been deleted.

Billionaire Les Wexner in the “Jeffrey Epstein Walk of Shame.” / BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images

Billionaire retail mogul Les Wexner, 88, is also in the “Walk of Shame.”

The Victoria’s Secret founder appears thousands of times in the Epstein files, but has denied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and claimed that he had been “duped” by the disgraced financier, to whom he granted power of attorney over his finances in 1991.

“I was naive, foolish, and gullible to put any trust in Jeffrey Epstein,” Wexner told the House Oversight Committee last month. They subpoenaed him as part of their investigation into the government’s handling of the Epstein case. “At no time did I ever witness the side of Epstein’s life for which he is now infamous.”

A star for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in the “Jeffrey Epstein Walk of Shame.” / BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images

A person walks over a star with the name of former President Clinton along the “Jeffrey Epstein Walk of Shame.” / BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images

The “Walk of Shame” also included the former prince, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, and the late billionaire Steve Jobs.

Former President Bill Clinton also featured in the gallery. The 79-year-old appeared before the House Oversight Committee on Friday. “I did nothing wrong,” he insisted, adding that he had “no idea” about Epstein’s crimes during the period the two were in contact, decades ago.

“My brief acquaintance with Epstein ended years before his crimes came to light,” Clinton said, noting that he would“not have flown on his plane if I had any inkling of what he was doing.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

Opinion

Trump Accidentally Reveals His Iran War Wasn’t Necessary

Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling
Mon, March 2, 2026

NEW REPUBLIC




Iran had to be attacked because the U.S. was “very nearly under threat” by its advanced weapons systems, according to the president.

Addressing the war for the first time during a Medal of Honor ceremony on Monday, Donald Trump claimed that Iran’s “pursuit of nuclear weapons” posed an immediate threat to the American public—even though he declared last year that his June attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities had “completely and totally obliterated” the country’s nuclear program.

“The United States military continues to carry out large-scale combat operations in Iran to eliminate the grave threats posed to America by this terrible, terrorist regime,” Trump said Monday.

“In addition, the regime’s conventional ballistic missile program was growing rapidly and dramatically, and this posed a very clear, colossal threat to America and our forces stationed overseas. The regime already had missiles capable of hitting Europe and our bases, both local and overseas, and would soon have had missiles capable of reaching our beautiful America.

“An Iranian regime armed with long-range missiles and nuclear weapons would be an intolerable threat to the Middle East, but also to the American people,” Trump continued. “Our country itself would be under threat, and it was very nearly under threat.”

So far, four American soldiers have been killed in the conflict, as have more than 20 Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Trump has yet to formally speak to the American people about the war—a major departure from his predecessors, who almost universally recognized the need to justify the need for military intervention with an immediate speech to the public. Woodrow Wilson did so the same day he asked Congress to declare war against Germany during World War I, while Franklin D. Roosevelt gave a national address hours before the country declared war during World War II.

Even Harry Truman, who proceeded with the Korean War without the authorization of Congress—much like Trump—delivered a radio address to the American public shortly after he ordered U.S. air and naval forces to assist South Korea.

The current Middle East mobilization is the Trump administration’s second attempt to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, which the White House has claimed is for weapons development. The first attack took place on June 22.

At the time, Trump celebrated that the strike had eviscerated Iran’s nuclear program, publicly rejecting a battle damage assessment by the Pentagon that determined that the impact of the missile barrage on the larger program was minimal and had only set Iran’s nuclear program back by a few months. The White House has thus far failed to explain the discrepancy, or why it needs to spend more taxpayer funds attacking a site that purportedly has already been demolished.

Before the June attack, Iran had argued that it was seeking uranium for peaceful purposes, such as expanding its nuclear energy program. The nation has undergone years of nuclear site inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, and mere weeks before the U.S. bomb strike had allowed the agency’s inspectors to remain in the country, according to the U.N. entity.

Trump scrapped a potential nuclear deal with Iran during his first term, pulling out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in May 2018.

GOP Rep Exposes Real Reason for Trump’s War

Laura Esposito
Sun, March 1, 2026 

THE DAILY BEAST


Photo Illustration by Eric Faison/The Daily Beast/Getty Images

Donald Trump’s Republican foe believes the president’s military operation in Iran has ulterior motives.

Rep. Thomas Massie issued a pointed reminder on Sunday that war won’t distract him from his push to force the Department of Justice to release all documents linked to Jeffrey Epstein.

“PSA: Bombing a country on the other side of the globe won’t make the Epstein files go away, any more than the Dow going above 50,000 will,” the Kentucky libertarian wrote on X.

Rep. Thomas Massie vowed he won't be distracted from Jeffrey Epstein. / Screenshot/X / X

Massie is one of several Trump critics who have accused the president of staging foreign policy crises and other White House controversies to deflect scrutiny from his historic relationship with Epstein, particularly as new Justice Department documents related to the late sex trafficker’s crimes are released.

In January, critics also alleged that the administration’s capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro served as a temporary reprieve from bipartisan pressure surrounding Trump’s ties to Epstein, who once described himself as Trump’s “closest friend.”

Massie and his Democratic ally, Rep. Ro Khanna, spearheaded the Epstein Files Transparency Act—which Trump begrudgingly signed into law—directing the Department of Justice to release all files connected to Epstein, who died in 2019, by Dec. 19, 2025.

The DOJ has released more than 3 million files related to Epstein, though another 3 million remain withheld for various reasons.

Massie and his Democrat ally Ro Khanna have emerged as fierce opposition to Trump, especially amid the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. / Alex Wong / Getty Images

Massie has also been a thorn in Trump’s side ahead of the president’s military action in Iran.

“Congress must vote on war according to our Constitution,” the congressman wrote on X on Feb. 19. He said he and Khanna “will be forcing that vote to happen in the House as soon as possible. I will vote to put America first which means voting against more war in the Middle East.”

Trump launched his war from a hastily constructed space in Mar-a-Lago with (left) John Ratcliffe, the Director of the CIA, (fourth from right) Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and (second from right), Dan Scavino, his golf caddy turned aide. / White House / XMore

Massie and Khanna are expected to bring forward a vote next week aimed at curbing Trump’s military action without congressional approval.


That effort did not deter the president’s major attack Saturday morning, which reportedly included a direct hit on the Shajareye Tayabeh girls’ school in Minab, Hormozgan Province, killing at least 43 students and wounding 63 others, according to the Iranian state news agency Islamic Republic News Agency.

Early Saturday morning, Massie again took to X to voice his disapproval.

Thomas Massie's X post included credible reporting about the attack from the Associated Press. / Screenshot/X / X

“Acts of war unauthorized by Congress,” Massie wrote in an X post, linking an Associated Press article titled “U.S. and Israel launch a major attack on Iran, and Trump urges Iranians to take over.”

In a separate post, he slammed Trump’s military action as the opposite of “America First.”

“I am opposed to this War,” he wrote in a post viewed 4.2 million times at the time of publication. “This is not ‘America First.’”

Trump announced the strike on Iran sans tie and wearing a Trucker hat in the early hours of Saturday morning. / US President Trump Via Truth Social/Anadolu via Getty Images

Massie continued: “When Congress reconvenes, I will work with [Rho Khanna] to force a Congressional vote on war with Iran. The Constitution requires a vote, and your Representative needs to be on record as opposing or supporting this war.”

The president has repeatedly referred to Massie as a “loser” and a “moron” and is backing his primary opponent, Ed Gallrein, in the race for Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District.

The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House and to Massie’s representatives for comment.

Bombshell Pentagon Admission Wrecks Trump’s War Claims

Catherine Bouris
Sun, March 1, 2026

THE DAILY BEAST

Pentagon briefers have told congressional staff that Iran had no plans to preemptively strike U.S. forces or bases in the region.

The bombshell admission came at a private briefing on Sunday, CNN reports, citing multiple sources. Politico also cited two people who attended the briefing who said that no clear evidence of an imminent attack by Iran was presented, while the Associated Press cited three people familiar with the briefing.

The revelation undercuts President Donald Trump’s justification of the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on the country.

White House officials had claimed on Saturday that the U.S. chose to attack Iran because it had received indications that the country was planning to launch missile attacks against U.S. bases, according to CNN.

In addition, in his announcement of the strikes, Trump claimed the Iranian regime was building missiles that “could soon reach the American homeland.” An assessment from the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency published last year found that Iran was years away from possessing the intercontinental ballistic missiles required to launch attacks on the U.S. At present, there is no intelligence to suggest that Iran was working on an ICBM program at the time of the strikes, according to the assessment.

Three sources also confirmed to CNN that the nation was not interested in establishing one, a claim echoed by Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi last week.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment. White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told CNN on Saturday, “President Trump is absolutely right to highlight the grave concern posed by Iran, a country that chants ‘death to America,’ possessing intercontinental ballistic missiles.”

The Pentagon briefers on Sunday cited Iran’s ballistic missile program and proxy forces as evidence the country posed a threat to the U.S., but sources who spoke to CNN noted that this has been true for years and does not explain the supposed urgency of Saturday’s strikes.

However, the briefers acknowledged that “there was no indication that Iran was preparing to preemptively strike U.S. bases in the region in anticipation of some sort of attacks from American-Israeli forces,” senior CNN reporter Zach Cohen said.

Sources who spoke to the Associated Press said that the briefers did not provide any clarity on what would happen in Iran following the strikes.

Donald Trump waves after landing aboard Air Force One on Sunday at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. / Roberto Schmidt / Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images

The news raises “more questions still, as the president has… we haven‘t heard from him about his reasoning, his justification and his plan going forward as this military operation continues,” Cohen told host Kaitlan Collins.

White House spokesperson Dylan Johnson told CNN in response that the Pentagon had “briefed the bipartisan staffs of several national security committees in both chambers for over 90 minutes on the military action in Iran.”

The Daily Beast has reached out to the Department of Defense and White House for comment. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is set to appear before the media on Monday morning to provide an update.


‘I Don’t Understand the Confusion’: Marco Rubio Slams Media for Questioning Reason for Iran Operation


Despite dubbing himself the “Peace President” and promising “no new wars,” Trump launched a wave of missile attacks on Iran early Saturday morning before announcing that the U.S. had begun “major combat operations.”

The strikes, conducted in conjunction with Israel, ultimately resulted in the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, prompting Iran to launch a series of retaliatory strikes on U.S. bases and allies around the Middle East.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a strike on Saturday. / Iranian Leader's Press Office - Handout/Anadolu Agency/Getty

Responding to the news that three U.S. soldiers have already died since Saturday, Trump admitted that there would “likely be more.”

“As one nation, we grieve for the true American patriots who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation, even as we continue the righteous mission for which they gave their lives,” Trump said on Sunday afternoon.

“Sadly, there will likely be more before it ends. That’s the way it is. Likely be more, but we’ll do everything possible where that won’t be the case.” The president also told The New York Times on Sunday that projections from the Pentagon suggest U.S. casualties could be “quite a bit higher” than what has already been seen.

According to an X post from U.S. Central Command made late Sunday, U.S. strikes in the region conducted as part of “Operation Epic Fury” continue.

‘The Behavior of Rogue States’: Global Revulsion as US and Israel Launch War on Iran

“The attacks on Iran by Israel and the United States are illegal, unprovoked, and unjustifiable,” said Jeremy Corbyn, an independent member of the UK Parliament.


A man walks by the Fox News ticker displaying “War on Iran” on February 28, 2026 in New York.
(Photo by Ryan Murphy/Getty Images)

Jake Johnson
Feb 28, 2026
COMMON DREAMS

Elected officials, activists, and experts around the world voiced horror and outrage Saturday as US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu jointly launched an illegal war on Iran with the explicit goal of toppling the nation’s government, sparking chaos throughout the Middle East.

The wave of bombings, expected to mark the beginning of a wider assault, spurred airspace closures and flight cancellations across the region as countries braced for the fallout. While European leaders offered milquetoast responses to the unlawful military attack and Canadian and Australian officials openly endorsed it, leftist politicians and others unequivocally condemned the US and Israel as the aggressors.

“The attacks on Iran by Israel and the United States are illegal, unprovoked, and unjustifiable,” said Jeremy Corbyn, an independent member of the British Parliament and former leader of the UK Labour Party. “Peace and diplomacy was possible. Instead, Israel and the United States chose war.”

“This is the behavior of rogue states—and they have jeopardized the safety of humankind around the world with this catastrophic act of aggression,” Corbyn added. “Our government must condemn this flagrant breach of international law, and urgently pursue a foreign policy based on justice, sovereignty, and peace.”

Progressive International co-founder Yanis Varoufakis, the former finance minister of Greece, echoed Corbyn’s criticism of the US and Israel as “rogue states.”

“Israel and the USA,” he wrote on social media, “have started a war not against Iran but against the whole world. We stand with Iranians, with humanity, against the notion that Israel and the US can bomb anyone their fancy takes them to bomb.”

Badr Albusaidi, the foreign minister of Oman and the mediator of recent US-Iran talks, said he was “dismayed” by news of the US-Israel attacks on Iran, which were quickly followed by reports of horrific atrocities. Albusaidi said hours before the bombs started falling on Iran that a diplomatic resolution was within reach.

“Active and serious negotiations have yet again been undermined,” Albusaidi lamented on Saturday. “Neither the interests of the United States nor the cause of global peace are well served by this. And I pray for the innocents who will suffer. I urge the United States not to get sucked in further.”

Leftist Colombian President Gustavo Petro said he believes “President Donald Trump has made a mistake today” and implored the “helpless United Nations” to “convene immediately” in response to the US-Israel attacks and retaliation by Iran and allied groups in the region.

Iran vowed a “crushing” response to the US-Israeli onslaught, firing drones and missiles at Israel and pledging to hit US military installations in the region.

Al Jazeera reported that “Iran has targeted United States assets across the Gulf Arab states in retaliation for a huge joint attack on Iran by the US and Israel, as the region’s worst fears of being ignited in the flames of a sustained war loom.”

“The Iranian government on Saturday confirmed its attacks on several targets, according to the Fars news agency, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, where US airbases are hosted,” the outlet noted.

Experts Pillory Trump Case for War on Iran: ‘Flimsiest Excuse for Initiating a Major Attack’ in Decades

“What they posed as the threat they were trying to preempt—an attack by Iran against US forces—is so extremely implausible, it is also laughable,” said one analyst.


US President Donald Trump oversees the military assault on Iran with Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles at Mar-a-Lago on February 28, 2026 in Palm Beach, Florida.
(Photo by Daniel Torok/White House via Getty Images)

Jake Johnson
Mar 01, 2026
COMMON DREAMS

Senior Trump administration officials attempted during a briefing with reporters on Saturday to make their case for the joint US-Israeli military assault on Iran that has so far killed hundreds and plunged the Middle East into chaos.

According to experts who listened to the briefing, which was conducted on background, the justification for war was incredibly weak. Daryl Kimball, president of the Arms Control Association, told Laura Rozen of the Diplomatic newsletter that the administration’s argument was “the flimsiest excuse for initiating a major attack on another country without congressional authorization, in violation of the UN Charter, in many decades.”

During his early Saturday remarks announcing the attacks, President Donald Trump claimed that “imminent threats from the Iranian regime” against “the American people” drove him to act. But Kimball said that administration officials “provided absolutely no evidence” to back that assertion during the briefing.

“What they posed as the threat they were trying to preempt—an attack by Iran against US forces—is so extremely implausible, it is also laughable,” said Kimball.

Following the start of Saturday’s assault, which Trump explicitly characterized as a war aimed at overthrowing the Iranian government, unnamed administration officials began leaking the claim that Trump feared an Iranian attack on the massive US military buildup in the Middle East, prompting him to greenlight the bombing campaign in coordination with Israel and with a nudge from Saudi Arabia.

Kimball, in a social media post, took members of the US media to task for echoing the administration’s narrative. “Reporters need to do more than stenography,” he wrote in response to Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman.

“The American people were lied to about Iraq. The American people are being lied to again today—and once again, it is ordinary people who will pay the price.”

Trump and top administration officials also repeated the longstanding claim from US warhawks that Iran is bent on developing a nuclear weapon, something Iranian leaders have publicly denied—including during recent diplomatic talks. Neither US intelligence assessments nor international nuclear watchdogs have produced evidence indicating that Iran is moving rapidly in the direction of nukes, as claimed by the administration.

Rozen noted that some remarks from administration officials during Saturday’s briefing “suggested Trump’s negotiators”—a team that included Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff—“may not have had the expertise or experience to understand the Iranian proposal to curb its nuclear program.” Rozen reported that one administration official kept misstating the acronym for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog.

Trump administration officials, according to Rozen, seemed astonished that Iranian negotiators would not accept the US offer to provide free nuclear fuel “forever” for Iran’s peaceful energy development, viewing the rejection as a suspicious indication that Iran was opposed to a diplomatic resolution—even though, according to Oman’s foreign minister, Iran had already made concessions that went well beyond the terms of the 2015 nuclear accord that Trump abandoned during his first stint in the White House.

Experts said it should be obvious—particularly given Trump’s decision to ditch the previous nuclear accord—why Iran would not trust the US to stick by such a commitment.

The administration’s inability to provide a coherent justification for war tracks with the rapidly shifting narrative preceding Saturday’s strikes—an indication, according to some observers, that Trump had made the decision to attack Iran even in the face of diplomatic progress and left officials to try to cobble together a rationale after the fact.

In a lengthy social media post, Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth insisted war was necessary because Iran “refused to make a deal” and because the Iranian government “has targeted and killed Americans,” hardly the claim of an imminent threat push by the president and other administration officials.

Brian Finucane, a senior adviser to the US Program at the International Crisis Group, noted in response that the Trump administration has “sidelined anyone who could articulate... a coherent argument, partly because expertise is deep state and woke and partly because they just don’t care.”

The result is another potentially catastrophic war that runs roughshod over US and international law, puts countless civilians at risk, and threatens to spark a region-wide conflict.

“President Trump, along with his right-wing extremist Israeli ally Benjamin Netanyahu, has begun an illegal, premeditated, and unconstitutional war,” US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement on Saturday. “Tragically, Trump is gambling with American lives and treasure to fulfill Netanyahu’s decades-long ambition of dragging the United States into armed conflict with Iran.”

“The American people were lied to about Vietnam. The American people were lied to about Iraq,” Sanders added. “The American people are being lied to again today—and once again, it is ordinary people who will pay the price.”

'Proven genes': Mock 'Draft Barron Trump' website pops up as president launches war

Barron Trump with President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts during the president's inauguration on January 20, 2025 (House Creative Services/Wikimedia Commons)

President Donald Trump's youngest adult child is the latest to be mocked with a new fake website calling on him to enlist.

DraftBarronTrump.com was launched over the weekend when his father started a war in Iran.

Sarah K. Burris

March 02, 2026 |

ALTERNET

"America is strong because its leaders are strong. President Trump proves that every day. Naturally, his son Barron is more than ready to defend the country his father so boldly commands. Service is honor. Strength is inherited. Dog (sic) Bless Barron," the site says.

"This site is dedicated to honoring the strongest and bravest voices in war. When power is projected abroad, it is only right that strength exists at home. If you’re looking for proven genes, inherited courage, and unquestionable resolve, look no further than the Trump family. Leadership starts somewhere," it continues, with photos of the president appearing to fall asleep in the Oval Office.

It goes on to make up fake quotes of endorsements from the president, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, lending their support.

“People come up to me, with tears in their eyes, and they say, ‘Sir, you’re the strongest. Send Barron off to war.’ I’ve always been strong. Very strong. Stronger than anyone expected. Some say the strongest ever. And strength matters. Believe me," the fake quote says.

“People always say I’m stupid, which is totally unfair, because I understand a lot about pancakes. Pancakes are complex. You’ve got batter, heat, timing. If you rush it, you ruin everything. I think about pancakes a lot. Mostly pancakes," the fake quote from Eric Trump reads.

The campaign took off over the weekend, with #DraftBarron trending on X.

There was also a fake letter from Rep. Dr. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) about the younger Trump's fitness for service.

The campaign popped up after the bombing as those angry about another war complained that people like the president's son won't be the ones fighting and dying on the ground in Iran. Four U.S. soldiers have already died in the war.

‘Insane This Is Legal’: Bettors Make Huge Profits From Suspiciously Timed Wagers on Iran War

“Reminder that Donald Trump Jr. sits on Polymarket’s advisory board and his firm invested double-digit millions into the platform last year.”

Thick plumes of smoke rise over the residential areas of the Iranian capital following airstrikes amid ongoing US-Israeli attacks in Tehran, Iran on March 1, 2026.
(Photo by Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Jake Johnson
Mar 01, 2026
RAW STORY

Bettors on the prediction platform Polymarket made a killing with suspiciously timed wagers that the United States would attack Iran by February 28, the day President Donald Trump announced a bombing campaign against the Middle East nation.

Bloomberg reported that six accounts on Polymarket, all newly created this month, “made around $1 million in profit” by betting on the timing of the US attack on Iran. The accounts, according to Bloomberg, “had only ever placed bets on when US strikes might occur,” and “some of their shares were purchased, in some cases at roughly a dime apiece, hours before the first explosions were reported in Tehran.”

One account with the name Magamyman raked in over $515,000 by betting roughly $87,000 that the “US strikes Iran by February 28, 2026.”

The lucrative bets quickly drew scrutiny from lawmakers. US Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) wrote on social media that “it’s insane this is legal.”

“People around Trump are profiting off war and death,” Murphy alleged. “I’m introducing legislation ASAP to ban this.”

Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) wrote that “prediction markets cannot be a vehicle for profiting off advance knowledge of military action” and demanded “answers, transparency, and oversight.”

“Reminder that Donald Trump Jr. sits on Polymarket’s advisory board and his firm invested double-digit millions into the platform last year,” Levin wrote, referring to the president’s eldest son. “The [Justice Department] and [Commodity Futures Trading Commission] both had active investigations into Polymarket that were dropped after Trump took office.”

There’s no concrete evidence that Trump administration officials or staffers were behind the hugely profitable bets, but the wagers heightened concerns about the possibility of insider trading using increasingly popular prediction market platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi. Last month, bettors used Polymarket to make big profits on suspiciously timed wagers on when the US would oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Polymarket currently allows users to bet on when Iran will have a new supreme leader, when the US and Iran will reach a ceasefire agreement, and when the US will invade Iran.

The celebrity news tabloid TMZ reported Saturday that “a group at a Washington, DC restaurant was talking openly in the bar area Friday afternoon about a national secret that was about to literally explode hours later—the bombing of Iran.”

As journalist David Bernstein noted, that—if true—leaves open the possibility that “these ‘insider’ bets have been placed by any rich person with good ears in DC.”

“Not to mention that for all we know these administration clowns were probably gossiping about it on a text chain with half a dozen people they accidentally invited,” Bernstein added. “This is hardly the locked lips brigade we’re dealing with.”

Only 25% of Americans Support Trump Attack on Iran: Poll

“If this goes on... this is going to become a political disaster,” said one foreign policy expert.



Demonstrators gathered outside the White House in Washington DC on February 28, 2026 to protest US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
(Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Stephen Prager
Mar 02, 2026
COMMON DREAMS

President Donald Trump’s war in Iran is extraordinarily unpopular, according to a poll conducted shortly after the US and Israel carried out massive strikes on the country Saturday.

The survey, conducted by Reuters/Ipsos, found that just 27% of voters approved of the strikes, which have killed at least 555 Iranians as of Monday morning and resulted in retaliation from Iran that has killed at least four US service members, with more casualties expected according to a spokesperson for the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Meanwhile, 43% of respondents disapproved of the military action, while 29% said they were not sure.

A majority of Republicans said they approved of the strikes, with 55% expressing support. Still, 13% disapproved, and a noteworthy 31% said they were unsure.



Approval is dismal with nearly everyone else. Only 19% of independents expressed support compared to 44% who disapproved. And though Democratic leaders in Congress have done little to stand in the way of the strikes, their voters are overwhelmingly against them: 74% said they disapproved, while just 7% approved.

The poll reflects a wider skepticism of US military intervention, with 56% of respondents saying the president was too quick to deploy military force in recent months, including in Venezuela, Syria, and Nigeria.

Compared with previous US military interventions in the Middle East, such as the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, which—at least at their outset—enjoyed broad support from the American public following intense government efforts to drum up support, there has been little effort by the Trump administration to define the purpose of war with Iran.

Trump’s justification for launching the war has shifted wildly since he began amassing troops in the region. Trump has most recently said the strikes were intended to stop an “imminent threat” from Iran; meanwhile, the Pentagon has told Congress there was no sign Iran was planning an attack unless the US did so first.

The president previously said his push for war was to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, an assertion at odds with his claim that his strikes in June “obliterated” the country’s nuclear capabilities.



Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, told Al Jazeera that Trump’s shifting explanations reek of “desperation.”

“It’s very clear that Trump has a tremendous difficulty finding a justification for this war of choice that he’s embarked on,” he said. “The reality is that if this goes on for another week or two, this is going to become a political disaster.”

“So now he’s suddenly, desperately, using all kinds of justifications: Liberating the Iranian people, Iran is fighting against civilization,” Parsi said. “If he actually had a case, he would have stuck to that point and made it clearly. But he doesn’t have one.”