Good morning. Today’s edition starts with a story that should worry you more than most: the aide who sits closer to Donald Trump than almost anyone else in Washington, who filters what he reads, drafts what he posts, and is described by insiders as a channel through which foreign leaders try to reach him, went more than a year without completing a basic White House security clearance. Nobody seems to know why. Trump had to personally step in to get it done.
That’s not the only place where the wheels are showing this week. Trump declared “economic D-Day” on Iran on Wednesday, all-caps threats and all, then turned around and said the situation is “so good” that talks could resume “at some point.” Iran’s foreign minister didn’t even bother with a real rebuttal, he just pointed at America’s $40 trillion debt and walked away. Meanwhile, newly surfaced emails show US immigration officials were quietly coordinating deportation lists with the Iranian government in the middle of an active war between the two countries. And North Korea answered a US goodwill gesture with ten ballistic missiles, then had Kim Jong Un’s sister flatly deny Trump’s claim that a meeting between the two leaders is even in the works.
If this work matters to you, if you want independent reporting that doesn’t flinch when powerful people push back, the best way to keep it going is to subscribe. Share this newsletter with someone who needs to see it. Every subscriber makes it harder for them to shout this down.
Here’s the news:
Iran/Military:
President Trump announced a “crushing economic operation” against Iran on Wednesday, which he dubbed an “economic D-Day,” posting on Truth Social that it would involve “Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale” and warning that any country providing Iran a “lifeline,” through oil smuggling, swap lines, cash transfers, or front companies, would face “TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences.” Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi dismissed the threat as a distraction, writing that the so-called “Economic D-Day” is “a diversion from America’s own crisis: unprecedented debt & surging interest costs,” and warning that “doubling down on failed policies will only bring further defeat,” pointedly sharing a New York Times article about the US national debt crossing $40 trillion. Despite the escalation in rhetoric, Trump said the US could return to negotiations with Iran “at some point,” insisting “right now, I think the situation is so good,” while reiterating that Iran “cannot have a nuclear weapon” under any deal. Trump also claimed the Navy’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has been “extremely effective” and suggested the waterway won’t be “as important as it was in the past” given a record number of oil pipeline projects underway, even though oil prices have climbed to their highest level since July.
The war is drawing in more regional players and straining US military resources nearly six months in. The Pentagon confirmed the USS George Washington aircraft carrier arrived in the Middle East to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln, whose crew has faced reported mental health concerns after a nearly nine-month deployment that’s already run well beyond the typical six-month tour, though CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper said the Lincoln actually has among the lowest mental health case rates of the Navy’s 11 carriers.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps separately warned that Saudi Arabia “will certainly be unable to contain” the Houthis in Yemen, a new front that opened last month after tit-for-tat strikes, with the Houthis now attacking Saudi vessels, blockading Red Sea ports, and reportedly plotting to seize land along the Bab al-Mandab Strait to further threaten global shipping. Diplomatic efforts continue in parallel, with Araghchi holding a call with Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, to discuss mediation efforts, since Pakistan is among the countries trying to broker talks between Washington and Tehran.
In a separate but related development, newly released emails obtained by the National Iranian American Council reveal that US immigration officials quietly coordinated with the Iranian government to deport more than 100 Iranians on three flights between September 2025 and January 2026, despite the rising tensions between the two countries. The emails show Iranian officials had direct influence over deportation lists, with one ICE official writing “per request from the Iran Embassy I added a few cases,” and another noting that “Iran has requested that I amend the previous manifest and expedite the removal process” after meeting with an Iranian Embassy director. The revelation offers a rare, detailed look at behind-the-scenes cooperation between the two governments even as they remain locked in an active war, raising questions about the nature and extent of US-Iran coordination on immigration enforcement during this period.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Army is phasing out a cutting-edge drone assault battalion it established in Europe just this past January, a unit created to absorb lessons from Ukraine’s drone warfare against Russia, as part of a broader “back-to-basics” push by acting Army Chief of Staff Gen. Christopher LaNeve, who is closely aligned with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. After participating in a major exercise in Germany this August and September, the roughly 600-soldier battalion will report its findings and then “refocus on its core warfighting tasks as an airborne infantry battalion” rather than continuing its drone-focused mission, reversing a signature initiative of LaNeve’s predecessor Gen. Randy George, whom Hegseth ousted in April. Military experts like Brookings’ Michael O’Hanlon criticized the move, warning that “Ukraine has essentially revolutionized the close fight” and that any setback to the drone program would be “deeply regretful and dangerous,” while the Army declined to specify how it plans to accelerate drone capabilities going forward. The decision is one of several moves by LaNeve that have drawn friction, including shifting a specialized Multi-Domain Task Force from Europe to South Korea, reassigning a Texas-based armored corps to a new Western Hemisphere Command, rewriting Army fitness standards over Army Secretary Dan Driscoll’s objections, and canceling a planned speech by senior Ukrainian officers at Fort Benning.
Natalie Harp Security Risk:
Trump’s closest aide, Natalie Harp, went without a routine White House security clearance for more than a year, declining multiple times to complete the process despite receiving extensions, according to two people familiar with the matter who told MS NOW they don’t know why she resisted. Concerns mounted inside the White House counsel’s office and among security officials, including the Secret Service, until Trump personally intervened and Harp finally completed the SF-86 background investigation form in recent months, ultimately receiving her clearance. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told MS NOW that “Natalie Harp has a security clearance like everyone else, and she is a loyal and hardworking member of President Trump’s team,” but a senior White House official confirmed she’d received multiple extensions on the lengthy paperwork.
The lack of clearance is one of several internal red flags raised about Harp, who holds the titles special assistant and executive assistant to the president and operates unusually close to him, filtering much of the information he sees daily; one national security official noted her physical proximity in the West Wing and residence gives her access to highly sensitive information, arguably more than most senior officials. One source described her as someone who “plays into the less productive and more troublesome parts of his nature, putting things in front of him that aren’t vetted,” and said subtle staff efforts to limit her access have failed because “she is just persistent.”
Harp’s rise to Trump’s inner circle began in 2020, when she spoke at the Republican National Convention crediting Trump’s signing of the Right to Try Act for saving her life during bone cancer treatment, a claim medical experts have since questioned, and she later worked as a host at the far-right network One America News before joining Trump’s 2022 reelection campaign, where staff nicknamed her the “Human Printer” for constantly delivering favorable coverage and polling to him by hand. She became an official White House staffer at Trump’s January 2025 inauguration and was recently thrust further into the spotlight after reports she was among the small group of aides who accompanied Trump inside a catering cart as he secretly departed Air Force One amid security concerns in Turkey.
The New York Times has also reported that Harp frequently accompanies Trump on golf trips and to Mar-a-Lago, helps draft his social media posts, and carries a portable printer to deliver information to him in hard copy, while Maggie Haberman has separately described her as a channel through which “foreign leaders try to reach him.” Harp’s estranged brother, Preston Harp, told CNN her devotion to Trump amounts to an “unhealthy obsession,” a characterization Eric Trump pushed back on, calling her “an incredible young woman” and “arguably one of the hardest-working people in the White House.” The security clearance revelation adds a new, more concrete dimension to concerns that had previously focused mainly on her outsized access and influence rather than formal vetting gaps.
Separately, Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff has doubled down on his criticism of Trump’s relationship with Harp after facing a week of attacks from the president’s allies over remarks he made at a campaign rally, where he said Trump “golfs and trades stocks” and “wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie to their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar,” referencing the new Air Force One jet and the White House ballroom project.
Eric Trump called Ossoff’s comments “absolute trash,” and White House communications director Steven Cheung launched vulgar attacks against the senator, but Ossoff, who is running for reelection against Trump-backed Rep. Mike Collins, told MS NOW’s Lawrence O’Donnell it’s “been amazing to watch this White House melt down over this all week.” He defended his right to criticize Harp and other staffers by noting “these White House staffers are adults, public officials paid by the taxpayer with immense power in positions of public trust,” and accused Harp of “printing out Donald Trump’s daily dose of delusion and flattery,” while also taking aim at comments from trade adviser Peter Navarro and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. He capped his response by dismissing the backlash entirely, saying “no one cares about their feelings.”
North Korea:
North Korea answered de-escalation with a show of force. Less than a day after the US and South Korea agreed to shrink the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, Pyongyang fired roughly ten short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea from the Pyongyang region on Thursday. South Korea’s military said it was coordinating closely with the US and Japan on the launches, and Japan’s prime minister’s office confirmed it had detected a suspected launch as well. South Korea’s presidential national security council held an emergency meeting afterward and issued a statement urging the North to halt the launches, noting they’re banned outright under UN Security Council resolutions. The timing made the message hard to miss: a goodwill gesture from Washington was met almost immediately with a demonstration of strength rather than reciprocity.
Kim Yo-jong’s response was calibrated, not a flat rejection. She dismissed the drill drawdown as cosmetic, saying “the provocative, aggressive nature of the drills won’t change even though their duration and size were reduced,” and warned the US would not get the response it wanted if it tried to frame the move as good faith. What stood out was what she left out, she skipped North Korea’s usual fire-and-brimstone rhetoric entirely. She also said personal relations between her brother and Trump remain “still excellent,” a notably warm line given the rest of the statement. Taken together, it reads less like Pyongyang closing the door and more like it holding out for a bigger concession before returning to the table.
A company I love for my family is Wildgrain! Wildgrain delivers sourdough breads, seasonal pastries, and French butter made by small independent bakeries right to your door. Everything bakes straight from frozen in 25 minutes or less, with simple, recognizable ingredients you can pronounce. So you can have warm, bakery-quality goods whenever you want, without worrying about them going stale. Customize your box with Classic, Gluten-Free, Vegan, or Protein options - and with flexible subscriptions, you can skip or cancel anytime. The fan-favorite Apple Cider Donuts and other fall seasonal products are back for a limited time, so make sure you order before they sell out. Get $30 off your first Wildgrain box, plus free croissants for life, when you visit https://wildgrain.com/AARON and use code AARON at checkout.
Trump and Kim Yo-jong are now telling contradictory stories about a possible meeting. Trump said Wednesday he’s planning to meet Kim later this year, and when asked if Kim had responded to his outreach, he told reporters “Yeah, he has,” with the Wall Street Journal reporting a possible tie-in to November’s APEC summit in Shenzhen. Kim Yo-jong flatly denied it, saying she knew “absolutely nothing” about any such communications and calling it “perhaps the only matter I do not know about” in her brother’s foreign policy. She also reiterated that “the United States’ hostile policy toward the DPRK has not changed,” despite the scaled-back drills, and separately denied Zelenskyy’s claims that North Korea planned to send tens of thousands of troops to fight for Russia. The upshot is a genuinely open question of whether Trump’s promised year-end meeting is real, given his own account is being directly contradicted by the regime’s own spokesperson.
Other news:
A Cole County judge ruled Wednesday that Missouri can use its new, Trump-backed U.S. House map in the November elections, rejecting a bid by the group People Not Politicians to put the Republican-friendly districts to a statewide referendum vote. Judge Daniel Green sided with Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins and Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, agreeing that Missouri’s Constitution doesn’t authorize a referendum on congressional redistricting and that swapping districts after the primary would violate federal law. The map, redrawn after Trump urged GOP-led states to gerrymander ahead of the midterms, is designed to flip Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas City-area seat by pushing it deep into rural, Republican territory, with about 59% of its voters new to the district. Opponents immediately vowed to appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court, arguing the circuit court ruling isn’t the final word. Missouri is one of eight states where Republicans have redrawn maps this cycle, part of a broader push to net up to 16 additional House seats nationally, while Democrats counter with new maps in California and Utah.
James Braid, the White House’s director of legislative affairs and its top liaison to Congress, is leaving the administration, a person with knowledge of the transition told Politico, though it’s not yet clear where he’s headed next. Braid had been responsible for pushing Trump’s agenda through a narrow congressional majority, a job made harder by the president’s repeated clashes with members of his own party, and he was heavily involved in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and a recent bipartisan housing bill. His exit adds to a wave of senior departures, coming days after press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced she’s leaving and while deputy chief of staff James Blair is already on leave to run Trump’s political operation, all against a backdrop of near record low approval ratings and a tough midterm outlook for the GOP. Braid’s resume made him a particularly valuable Trump translator on Capitol Hill: he came from a top policy role under then Senator JD Vance, previously served as chief of staff to former Reps. Matt Rosendale and Ken Buck, deputy chief of staff to Rep. Mark Sanford and then Rep. Ted Budd, policy director for the House Freedom Caucus, and had a stint in the first Trump administration as well. Neither Braid nor the White House immediately responded to Politico’s request for comment.
A federal magistrate judge recommended Tuesday that a lawsuit brought by more than 30 Epstein survivors against the FBI be allowed to proceed, despite the statute of limitations having technically expired before they sued. U.S. Magistrate Judge Ryon McCabe found the plaintiffs plausibly alleged that FBI agents in Florida and elsewhere created a foreseeable risk to victims by mishandling tips and failing to properly investigate Epstein starting as early as 1996, though he was skeptical they can ultimately prove the FBI’s inaction directly caused their abuse. McCabe recommended a 90 day discovery period to examine FBI policies on sexual abuse and child sexual abuse material before the government can renew its dismissal bid, and the case now heads to U.S. District Judge David Leibowitz for a final call on whether to accept that recommendation. The plaintiffs argue the case isn’t time barred because the government’s suppression of records kept them from learning the full extent of the FBI’s failures until recent disclosures under the Epstein Files Transparency Act and congressional hearings. The Justice Department is fighting the suit on sovereign immunity grounds, arguing the Federal Tort Claims Act doesn’t cover the FBI’s discretionary investigative decisions and that the claims are filed too late regardless.
An Amazon customer in Texas got an unwelcome surprise when her first-ever drone delivery ended up in her swimming pool instead of on her doorstep. She said she ran outside after hearing the drone’s loud buzzing overhead, camera ready to capture the moment, only to watch it drop her package straight into the water.
Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, posted a video of himself touring construction of a gallows complex, complete with viewing booths for victims’ families, where Palestinians convicted of terror offenses in military courts will be hanged, boasting “terrorists will be executed” at the site. The facility follows a new law passed by the Knesset earlier this year, 62 to 48, that makes the death penalty the mandatory sentence for such convictions in military courts unless special circumstances allow life imprisonment, a law that applies only to Palestinians and not to Jewish extremists convicted of comparable crimes. Ben-Gvir, who has past convictions for incitement to racism and support for a banned terrorist organization and is already under sanctions from the UK, France, and Ireland, drew separate international condemnation days earlier for advocating “30 to 40 targeted assassinations per night” in Gaza and saying some Palestinians “are not even people,” comments the French foreign minister called “unacceptable and inhuman” and the UN secretary general called “appalling” and “dehumanising.” Amnesty International said the death penalty law itself dismantles safeguards against arbitrary killing and the right to a fair trial while further entrenching what it calls Israel’s system of apartheid against Palestinians. The gallows video surfaced alongside separate criticism of Israel over new tenders for the E1 settlement block near Jerusalem, which UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband called an “unacceptable and destructive act” that risks cutting off the West Bank from East Jerusalem, prompting him to summon Israel’s charge d’affaires in protest.
The FDA upgraded a recall of frozen blueberries and mixed berries sold at Publix to a Class 1 recall on Tuesday, its highest health risk category, meaning there’s a reasonable probability the product could cause serious illness or death. Publix had recalled four varieties of frozen GreenWise organic blueberries and mixed berries back on July 29 over potential E. coli contamination, and the products were sold across eight states including Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. The CDC has confirmed 12 illnesses tied to the outbreak strain across two states, though no deaths have been reported. Affected products carry expiration dates before February 9, 2028, and customers are told to discard them or return them to Publix for a full refund. It’s the second recall the FDA has bumped to Class 1 status in about a week, following a similar upgrade to an egg recall over salmonella risk.
FAA officials are growing frustrated with Peraton, the Herndon, Virginia contractor that won a $1.5 billion deal in December to serve as “lead systems integrator” on the Trump administration’s air traffic control modernization effort, with three people telling Politico the agency could scale back the company’s role. Complaints include failing to manage subcontractors on site, letting schedules slip on an Alaska facility project, and in one case a Peraton manager reportedly showing up to a radar site, bringing doughnuts, and sitting in the corner instead of overseeing the work. Peraton, which mostly works on national security programs and had little prior FAA experience, disputes the characterization and says it remains “a proud, trusted partner” fully committed to hitting milestones, while the FAA says it has not penalized the company or issued a formal warning letter. The overhaul itself carries high stakes, coming after last year’s deadly midair collision near Reagan National that killed 67 people and a fatal LaGuardia runway crash this year, making 2025 to 2026 the deadliest two year stretch for U.S. airline travel in two decades. Sources also note the FAA shares some blame for micromanaging the project and restricting Peraton’s ability to operate, even as the agency pushes an aggressive timeline to have major parts of the new system running by 2028.
Trump's pick to lead the FDA, Heidi Overton, faces an uphill Senate confirmation fight largely because Sen. Bill Cassidy, chair of the Health Committee and a vaccine policy advocate, has already signaled her role in last week's executive order scaling back the childhood vaccine schedule may cost her his vote, calling it "almost disqualifying." Without Cassidy, Overton likely can't clear committee, and she faces additional resistance from MAHA activists who see her as too industry friendly on issues like glyphosate, from some FDA career staff and outside experts who question whether the 37 year old, still in her medical residency when she joined Trump's team in 2019, has the management experience to run a 16,000 person agency, and from Democrats and abortion rights groups mobilizing against her anti-abortion record, which includes past writings calling for a ban on mailing the abortion pill mifepristone. The White House and some allies frame her loyalty as her chief asset, describing her as a "good soldier" who will execute Trump's priorities even though she has "no regulatory track record," while anti-abortion groups like Americans United for Life and Students for Life are optimistic she'll push to finalize restrictions on the abortion pill.
Five news reporters and two military members were briefly held at gunpoint by security officers at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Monday after officers mistook their escorted convoy for an unauthorized entry attempt. The group, which was being driven onto the base by uniformed public affairs staff ahead of an invitation-only groundbreaking for a new missile operator training facility, was suddenly ordered out of their vehicle at gunpoint, with sirens sounding and barricades going up at the gate. The two military members, one enlisted and one a junior officer, were handcuffed and placed in base vehicles, while the civilian reporters, from outlets including Noozhawk, KEYT, KSBY-TV, and the Santa Maria Times, were made to sit on a curb for more than 30 minutes, causing them to miss the event before being released without further incident. A Space Launch Delta 30 spokesperson called it a breakdown in communication, saying the base has seen a rise in unauthorized entry attempts and that "every potential unauthorized presence must be treated as a legitimate threat until proven otherwise."
See you soon.
— Aaron
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.