Good evening, everyone. What an afternoon.
The White House is on fire this afternoon over repeated questions about Donald Trump’s relationship with close aide Natalie Harp. It’s gotten so intense that the White House is now attacking a reporter directly and invoking her children to do it. That comes on the same day Trump lashed out at another female reporter for asking him about gutting America’s relationship with South Korea while cozying up to Kim Jong Un.
Meanwhile, construction at Big Bend has been paused after fierce backlash. I’ve also got exclusive messages showing horrific conditions aboard another aircraft carrier. And there’s more.
This afternoon I sat down with Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward, who made something very clear. She hasn’t just beaten Trump in court more than 70% of the time overall, she’s beaten him 100% of the time on election cases, and she’s ready to take him on again if he tries to undermine the midterms.
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:
Alarm over Trump gutting America’s relationship with South Korea:
In the Oval Office Monday, Trump described South Korea’s decades-long defense relationship with the U.S. in transactional terms, complaining that Seoul wasn’t paying the roughly $3 billion in annual “protection” money he’d extorted during his first term and blaming Biden for not collecting more, while claiming a “very positive” relationship with Kim Jong-un, whom he’s met three times. He tied his frustration to South Korea’s refusal to help with the Iran war, recounting that when he asked Seoul’s president to “give us a hand with Iran,” the reply was “no thanks,” prompting Trump to question why the U.S. maintains 39,000 troops defending South Korea from North Korea. This came hours after he announced on Truth Social that he was ordering Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce” the Ulchi Freedom Shield joint exercises, framing the drills as “hostile” toward a North Korea he called “unthreatening and respectful,” despite the regime’s continued missile tests and warnings that the drills are a “rehearsal for an aggressive war.” South Korea’s defense ministry said it would proceed with the exercises “as previously notified and scheduled.”
Democratic lawmakers sharply condemned the move, with Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Jack Reed calling it “another inane, haphazard decision” that punishes South Korea “for no reason beyond Trump’s ego” and signals to allies and adversaries alike that America’s commitments are negotiable. Senator Mark Kelly warned that the drills aren’t merely symbolic but essential to U.S.-South Korean coordination given that the two Koreas remain technically at war, calling the reduction “shortsighted and a mistake,” while Senator Andy Kim said linking the exercises to Seoul’s Iran refusal “exposed a troubling attitude toward a key partner.” Even Republican Senator Thom Tillis broke with Trump, arguing the decision would inadvertently benefit Russia by freeing up North Korean troops currently supporting Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. Trump’s own administration undercuts his framing of North Korea as unthreatening: its 2026 Annual Threat Assessment describes an “increasingly confident” regime, and former DNI Tulsi Gabbard testified in March that North Korea’s ICBMs “can already reach US soil.”
The alliance dates to the 1953 Mutual Defense Treaty, with roughly 28,500 American troops still stationed in South Korea under a nuclear-umbrella commitment, and this isn’t the first time Trump has used the drills as a bargaining chip, having suspended major exercises after his 2018 Singapore summit with Kim before they were quietly restored once diplomacy collapsed. The dispute also comes amid friction between Seoul and Israel, with South Korea having expressed “grave concern” over Israeli actions in the West Bank and President Lee Jae-myung twice publicly clashing with Israel, including comparing an Israeli soldier’s treatment of a Palestinian man’s body to the Holocaust. Trump acknowledged the Iran and South Korea issues were “somewhat unrelated” even as he punished Seoul over both, tying the exercise cuts to Seoul’s declined offer to help “denuclearize” Iran, a war that has drained U.S. missile stockpiles and contributed to rising domestic gas prices after Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump Erupts at Reporter Over Natalie Harp:
Natalie Harp, Trump’s 35-year-old executive assistant, is going to extraordinary lengths to stay physically close to him, according to Trump biographer Michael Wolff’s new Substack post; when she wasn’t given a room during the 2023 Bedminster campaign relocation, she reportedly slept in the maids’ quarters, then later camped out in the women’s locker room to minimize distance from Trump. Wolff writes that while no one suspects a sexual relationship, aides describe it as a “Christian devotional relationship” in which Harp sees herself as Trump’s “higher purpose bride,” and that after Harp left love notes in Trump’s personal spaces, including one reading “You are all that matters to me,” Chief of Staff Susie Wiles reportedly asked herself “Where am I?”
Wolff also claims Melania Trump’s continued absence from her husband stems directly from this dynamic, writing that Melania “would not show up if Harp was around,” and that since Harp is “always around,” Melania has effectively “given up the role of wife.” This builds on separate reporting from Maggie Haberman, who revealed Harp was one of three aides chosen to secretly evacuate with Trump during a plane switch in Turkey because she serves as his “Binkie... his comfort blanket,” and has also taken over ghostwriting his Truth Social posts. White House Communications Director Steven Cheung dismissed Wolff’s reporting as fabrication from someone with “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” while Melania’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump lashed out at CNN senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes in the Oval Office on Monday after she pressed him on reports he reduced joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises as a favor to North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, telling her to “be quiet,” calling her “disrespectful,” and repeatedly branding her and her network “fake news” in front of a 16-year-old lifeguard being honored for a rescue. Holmes had also asked Trump to respond to Sen. Jon Ossoff’s claim that the president would rather travel with aide Natalie Harp and build his ballroom than do his job, prompting Trump to call Ossoff a “Pee Wee Herman lookalike” before defending the ballroom project. Trump went on to praise his relationship with Kim, saying “I get along with him very well,” while separately criticizing South Korea for not assisting with the Iran war. CNN swiftly condemned the exchange, stating that Holmes “did her job” by asking “a tough, relevant and newsworthy question” and that “personal attacks on journalists for asking questions are beneath the office.”
The White House’s rapid response social media account escalated the conflict after the Oval Office incident, calling Holmes a “disgraceful, humiliating embarrassment to her alleged profession” for using the lifeguard photo op to ask about Natalie Harp, and separately telling her that her children would one day be “sickened and embarrassed” by her question.
The account also branded Holmes and implicitly other critical reporters as “the lowest of the low,” doubling down rather than walking back Trump’s on-camera outburst. This came the same day the Supreme Court declined, for a second time, to rehear Trump’s appeal of the E. Jean Carroll defamation judgment, adding another item to a news cycle already dominated by scrutiny of Trump’s inner circle and his combative relationship with the press.
Other news:
Trump posted an AI-generated video Sunday showing himself walking through his still-unfinished White House ballroom with George Washington, thanking him in the caption for “brilliant ideas” on the project, an apparent attempt to lend some historical legitimacy to the $927 million build. The post drew ridicule and fresh 25th Amendment calls, with Gavin Newsom writing “He’s now claiming to talk to dead presidents. Get this man out of the White House and into the nursing home,” while others pointed out Trump had digitally given himself a height advantage over Washington. The irony critics flagged is that Washington himself rejected plans for a palatial presidential residence, while Trump’s 90,000-square-foot ballroom, modeled on Mar-a-Lago and the Palace of Versailles, is nearly twice the size of the actual Executive Residence. It comes days after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a halt to construction, though that order is stayed for 14 days to let the administration appeal, and after polling found nearly two-thirds of Americans are dissatisfied with the project. This is also not the first 25th Amendment flare-up for Trump, following past incidents involving falling asleep in meetings and a profane Truth Social threat against Iran.
A family member of a sailor aboard the USS Carl Vinson told me that the aircraft carrier does not have warm water to shower and the water fountains have been turned off.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said Monday the DOJ plans to deploy about 1,000 election monitors nationwide for the November midterms, part of what she called ongoing “election security work” the Civil Rights Division began right after she was sworn in last April. DOJ hasn’t released the list of jurisdictions yet, but Dhillon said they’re targeting places with language or disability-access concerns and places DOJ suspects have voter fraud, adding that prosecutions of illegal voters are “in the pipeline.” It’s unclear who’ll actually staff the 1,000-person force since the Civil Rights Division itself is far smaller, meaning DOJ would likely need to pull personnel from U.S. attorneys’ offices. Dhillon also said DOJ is prepared to take its voter-roll data fight to the Supreme Court, echoing Attorney General Todd Blanche’s comments a day earlier, despite the department having now lost all 23 district court cases and a Sixth Circuit en banc rehearing on its push to force states to hand over unredacted voter data including Social Security and driver’s license numbers. She claimed states that have cooperated show “hundreds of thousands” of dead people and “tens of thousands” of noncitizens on the rolls, and accused unnamed election officials of knowingly leaving noncitizens registered, but she didn’t name the states, officials, or provide supporting evidence for any of it.
Oil prices jumped sharply Monday after Trump cast doubt on reaching a new deal with Iran to extend the expiring ceasefire, saying “they’re not going to make the kind of a deal that I feel is necessary,” which sent Brent crude above $91 per barrel (closing up 2.65% at $90.87) and U.S. crude up 2.5% to $84.50, while Treasury yields rose and stocks extended their declines. Trump also claimed the U.S. has “total control” over the Strait of Hormuz and that it was “open,” but shipping data contradicts that: only three ships crossed the strait Sunday and 10 on Saturday, with weekly traffic down 19.5% from already-depressed levels compared to a prewar average of about 130 ships a day. The comments came the same day Trump reportedly threatened in a Fox News interview to “bomb the s---” out of Oman if it interfered with the situation. Oil prices, which briefly fell back toward prewar levels in early July, have since rebounded amid continued fighting and reports of tanker attacks, and are now nearly 50% higher than at the start of the year and over 25% higher since the war began February 28. Gas prices remain elevated as well, with the national average at $4.06 per gallon, a 36% increase since the conflict started.
CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott announced Monday he’s pausing all border wall construction in Big Bend National Park while he personally evaluates the project on the ground, spending the next few days talking to local leaders and stakeholders before deciding how to proceed. The move follows fierce bipartisan opposition, including from Republican Sen. John Cornyn, who argued the park’s cliffs and canyons already deter crossings, along with criticism from Democratic and Republican sheriffs and former park officials. It comes after CBP had already dropped plans for a 30-foot bollard wall through the park earlier this year but kept building roads, lighting, vehicle barriers, and buried sensors, funded by the $46 billion border wall budget Congress passed last summer. It’s unclear whether this is a genuine reversal or just a temporary pause for optics, especially since Scott has previously said he expects the first layer of wall finished by the end of next year. Either way, it’s a rare concession from an administration that has otherwise been racing to complete the wall.
Childhood vaccine exemptions among kindergarteners hit 4.2% nationally last school year, about 155,000 kids, up from 3.6% the year before, according to new CDC data, with 41 states and D.C. reporting increases. Nearly all of that jump is “non-medical” exemptions, meaning parents opted out for personal or religious reasons rather than health ones, and it comes right after Trump signed an executive order last week aimed at reducing the number of vaccines recommended for kids, which drew heavy pushback from pediatricians. Routine coverage for kindergarteners dropped to 92% for DTaP and 92.4% for MMR, both below the 95% threshold experts say is needed to prevent outbreaks. That’s landing in the middle of a rough year for measles specifically: the U.S. has logged 2,566 cases in 2026, a 35-year high, with active outbreaks in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Utah, and 93% of people diagnosed were unvaccinated. The spread is serious enough that it threatens the country’s official “measles eliminated” status, a decision the Pan American Health Organization is expected to make in November.
The House Ethics Committee announced Monday it’s investigating Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., over allegations he “engaged in inappropriate sexual contact with a House staffer,” though the panel stressed the investigation itself doesn’t mean a violation occurred. Gomez, who is married and founded the Congressional Dads Caucus, admitted to making “personal mistakes outside my marriage” but insisted his actions were “consensual” and didn’t break the law or House ethics rules, apologizing to his wife and family. The allegations trace back to a New York Post report from earlier this year claiming Gomez kissed a younger aide, a Democratic staffer, in 2023. This lands amid a notably busy stretch for the Ethics Committee, which recently recommended censuring Rep. Chuck Edwards over misconduct toward staffers (he later dropped his reelection bid) and opened separate probes into Reps. Max Miller and Cory Mills. Two other members, Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzales, already resigned this year amid similar investigations, and Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick resigned in April after being found guilty of 25 ethics violations.
Trump is weighing bringing back a rotating cast of Cabinet officials to handle White House press briefings once press secretary Karoline Leavitt departs later this month, according to three sources familiar with the planning, though he reportedly has “expressed zero urgency” on picking a permanent replacement. Roughly a dozen candidates are in the mix, including Alina Habba, Scott Jennings, Elizabeth Pipko, Anna Kelly, and Tricia McLaughlin, with allies actively lobbying junior staff and Trump himself on their behalf even as officials inside the White House shrug off the jockeying since the decision ultimately rests with Trump alone. This wouldn’t be the first time Cabinet officials filled in, Rubio, Vance, and Dr. Oz all took turns at the podium during Leavitt’s earlier maternity leave, with mixed results. Part of the calculation is that Trump has long treated himself as his own de facto spokesman through Truth Social and impromptu phone interviews, and one source close to the process noted the job itself is a tough sell right now since any successor will inevitably be compared to Leavitt.
Shasta County, California, a hotbed of election denialism, is set to hire Tina Peters, the former Colorado county clerk recently released from prison, as an elections consultant, though officials say she won't have access to the voting system itself. Peters was convicted of four felonies and three misdemeanors in 2024 after letting a Mike Lindell-affiliated activist impersonate a county employee to access Dominion voting software, and she'd still be in prison if Colorado Governor Jared Polis hadn't controversially commuted her nine-year sentence in May, overriding his own clemency board's recommendation and drawing a formal rebuke from state Democrats. Since her release she's toured MAGA media pushing the debunked claim that votes were flipped in 2020 and has urged Trump to declare a national emergency ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Hayden Panettiere, best known for playing the self-healing cheerleader Claire Bennet on “Heroes” and country star Juliette Barnes on “Nashville,” died Sunday at 36 after being found in cardiac arrest at a residence in Greenville, South Carolina, where she’d been temporarily staying. Emergency responders couldn’t revive her, and an autopsy found no signs of trauma, though the official cause of death is still pending further testing. Her father, Skip Panettiere, confirmed her death in a statement, and SAG-AFTRA and former co-stars like Connie Britton paid tribute. Panettiere had spent recent years openly discussing her struggles with addiction, postpartum depression, and the loss of her younger brother Jansen in 2023, and had just published a memoir this year as her acting career was picking back up. She’s survived by her 11-year-old daughter, Kaya, with her former partner, boxer Wladimir Klitschko.
More than 1.5 million vehicles have been recalled so far in 2026 over “park outside” fire risks, including Jeep Wranglers and Gladiators, Kia Tellurides, and BMW 530e xDrives, with these warnings becoming increasingly common as cars pack in more electronics that stay hot even after the engine is off. Stellantis recalled over 1 million Jeep Gladiators and Wranglers in June after at least 51 fires, attributing the issue to faulty electrical wiring in the power steering pump, while Kia recalled nearly 463,000 Tellurides in July over an overheating front seat motor linked to seven seat fires. The trend has accelerated sharply, from about 10 “park outside” recalls in 2024 to 19 in 2025, and already 17 in just the first seven months of 2026, with safety advocates framing the rise as an unfortunate but expected consequence of increasingly tech-heavy vehicles, even as they credit manufacturers for warning owners before repairs are available.
New York state Justice Gregory Carro put Luigi Mangione’s state murder trial on hold, giving prosecutors until Oct. 9 to respond to a double jeopardy motion his attorneys filed after Mangione pleaded guilty to federal stalking charges in the 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Mangione’s lawyers argue New York’s defense-friendly double jeopardy statute allows dismissal of the state murder and gun possession charges even though the federal and state charges weren’t identical, though he has pleaded not guilty to those state counts. The Manhattan DA’s office has said it intends to fight the motion, at least until it sees the outcome of Mangione’s federal sentencing, where prosecutors are seeking a life term; that sentencing is set for Dec. 18. During his federal guilty plea hearing, Mangione admitted to fatally shooting Thompson and detailed his plot, including posing as a major investor in an email to confirm the location of the conference Thompson was attending. Mangione’s attorneys have until Oct. 30 to respond to prosecutors on the double jeopardy issue, with his next state court date scheduled for Dec. 10.
The Buss family voted Monday to sell its remaining 17.8% stake in the Lakers to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger, ending the family’s 47-year ownership role and effectively ending Jeanie Buss’s tenure as team governor. This follows Walter’s deal earlier this month to flip control to Kushner and Iger at a $12.5 billion valuation, a record for a pro sports team, with the pair now set to own about 83% of the franchise. Jeanie had been promised she could keep her governor role through 2030 under the earlier Walter deal, but that position legally requires controlling at least 15% of team ownership, something she’ll no longer have. The Buss siblings have feuded for years since patriarch Jerry Buss died in 2013, including Jeanie firing brother Jim and a lawsuit attempting to oust her, and two siblings were pushed out of front-office jobs last November. The sale still needs approval from the NBA’s board of governors, a process that could take months.
See you soon.
— Aaron
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