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The acting U.S. Navy secretary Hung Cao said that the Iranian military severely damaged a major Navy installation in Bahrain, acknowledging the extent of damage sustained by the base during the conflict. “They blew the hell out of Bahrain,” Cao said in an interview with The Epoch Times, which was published Thursday, referring to the Naval Support Activity Bahrain (NASB), which serves as the headquarters for U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and the U.S. Fifth Fleet. The base has been heavily targeted by Iran after the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes against the Islamic Republic in late February. The Navy...

Iran has resumed production of ballistic missiles, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, contradicting the Trump administration’s claims that Tehran’s military capabilities have been destroyed in the months-long conflict with the U.S. Iran has assembled new missiles using existing components in more limited quantities than before the war in several underground sites, including the Khojir missile facility in southeastern Iran, U.S. and Middle Eastern officials told the Journal. The regime is also working on new underground assembly sites to avoid renewed American attacks. The U.S. and Israel have damaged several of Iran’s industrial facilities, and the U.S. naval blockade has...

President Trump pledged a $5,000 payout to U.S. adults on Wednesday, but only if Republicans hold onto their majority in Congress come November. “Here is my promise: if the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them … because of our tremendous strength and success economically, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000,” he said at the GOP’s midterm convention in Dallas, Texas. The legality of this disbursal is unclear. There are about 270 million adults in the U.S. Trump told attendees Wednesday that...

The construction of a massive White House ballroom is moving full steam ahead after the Supreme Court found a historic preservation group likely had no right to stop it. "We have a lot of very happy construction workers," President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday. The $400 million project on the site of the former East Wing, he said, was "under budget and ahead of schedule." * * * The Supreme Court's majority held in the ballroom case that one member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's "mere offense, disagreement, or distaste" was not enough to...

With midterms rapidly approaching, Republicans had appeared to catch a break on the economy. After a year in which the war with Iran sent gas prices soaring and pushed inflation to multi-year highs, both June and July’s Consumer Price Index came in tame. Even grocery prices slipped for the first time in months. But then President Trump returned to his longtime obsession: tariffs. Indeed, last weekend, talks between the White House and Canada collapsed, and Trump immediately slapped 50 percent tariffs on billions of dollars’ worth of Canadian goods, reviving what the Wall Street Journal called “The Dumbest Trade War...

Weeks before Americans begin voting in the midterm elections, the Trump administration wants to change the rules for voting by mail before the courts have even decided whether the president has the authority to do so. Two federal courts have already concluded that key parts of President Trump’s mail-ballot executive order cannot take effect while the litigation proceeds. Now, the administration is asking the Supreme Court to set those rulings aside and allow the order to take effect anyway. If it succeeds, the rules governing how millions of Americans vote by mail could change just weeks before Election Day. And...

The Department of Commerce quietly announced*** it will designate more than $870 million in federal incentives for semiconductor manufacturing in exchange for a minority equity stake in seven companies. *** the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) said Commerce’s CHIPS Research and Development Office signed letters of intent with seven companies to provide a combined $874 million in federal funding under the landmark CHIPS and Science Act. *** “The Department will receive a minority, non-controlling equity stake in each company as a condition for receiving the funds to enhance the return for the U.S. taxpayer,” NIST wrote. Up to...

Alex Jones, the former owner of InfoWars, on Tuesday said President Trump must be impeached over the Iran conflict, describing the situation as “absolutely out of control” and warning that the administration is preparing for a national draft. “The big issue is how to stop Trump. And we have to have Congress go for the war powers. They’ve tried three times to vote on war powers — they’re supposed to authorize a war. This is a war; they’re getting the draft ready. If this isn’t a war, nothing’s a war. I mean, this is absolutely out of control,” Jones said...

As President Trump threatens a major escalation in Iran, signs are mounting that the U.S. military is preparing for a potential return to major military operations. But experts are skeptical that an intensified air strike campaign — even if it takes out bridges, water facilities and electricity plants — will break Tehran or force tough concessions at the negotiating table. "I don't think it will change Iran's calculation in any way, because from Iran's perspective, this is when they said it publicly, that this is a war of survival for them. So bombing from the air is not going to...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is leading a field of possible candidates for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination in New Hampshire, according to a new poll. In the Granite State Poll from the University of New Hampshire, Ocasio-Cortez garnered 22 percent backing from respondents, with former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg behind her at 21 percent and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) trailing at 9 percent. Last October, Buttigieg led the field with 19 percent support, followed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) at 15 percent and Ocasio-Cortez at 14 percent. A few months later in February, Buttigieg maintained his lead with 20...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who has voted repeatedly for resolutions to withdraw U.S. troops from the military conflict with Iran, told reporters Wednesday that the United States is “worse off” than it was before President Trump launched the war in late February. “I think the Iran war has not been a success. I’ve been opposed to the Iran war from the beginning. I think by any objective measure we’re worse off than we were before the war,” Paul said on Capitol Hill. “If you look at the militarization of the Strait of Hormuz, that’s never happened before,” he said. “There’s...

Nearly half of Americans say they believe the Supreme Court is ruling on President Trump’s policies based on ideology instead of the law, according to a new poll. The Washington Post/Ipsos survey, conducted July 8-13, found that 46 percent of 2,648 respondents said they believe the nine justices are ruling on cases impacting the president’s agenda based on ideology. A quarter of respondents said the high court is ruling on those cases based on the law, while 28 percent had no opinion and 1 percent skipped the question.The Supreme Court has given Trump multiple unfavorable rulings during his second term....

Arizona state Rep. Alexander Kolodin, an election attorney, is projected to defeat former state GOP chair Gina Swoboda in the Republican primary to take on Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) in November, according to Decision Desk HQ. Kolodin is best known for his efforts to contest the 2020 election results, with the State Bar of Arizona ultimately sanctioning him over the move. In 2023, the Arizona state House Republican supported legislation alongside most of his GOP peers in both chambers that would have given counties the ability to hand-count ballots instead of tabulating them through machines. Some Republicans have...

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) is threatening to block two of President Trump’s ambassador nominees if the administration does not present evidence of progress on releasing funds to the President’s Emergency Plan For Aids Relief (PEPFAR), a government program which provides treatment for HIV and AIDS around the world. “The only way it seems like you can get the administration’s attention on some of these funding issues is by using the leverage to withhold votes on nominees,” Cornyn said in an interview with Semafor on Tuesday. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on which Cornyn sits, is scheduled to vote on the...

Texas Senate candidate James Talarico (D) received a harsh reception from an attendee at his town hall in Houston on Sunday. Video from the event, during which Talarico took questions for more than 90 minutes, captured by the Austin American-Statesman’s Faith Bugenhagen, shows a Black woman yelling, “So you stay here, you answer our questions or you suffer the consequences.” Other attendees clapped in support of the woman’s remarks, while one man said, “Say it with your chest.” When Talarico told the woman he appreciated her for traveling to attend the town hall, she replied, “I did it for my...

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Saturday slammed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s post commemorating two U.S. service members killed in Jordan as a result of Iranian strikes. “Godspeed, heroes. Their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve,” Hegseth wrote on social platform X. Greene said it was inappropriate to deem their deaths a “sacrifice.” “Sacrifice?? What the f— are you talking about?? They did not willingly sacrifice themselves. They were killed because of the war you, Trump, and the admin, are waging on behalf of a FOREIGN COUNTRY, Israel,” Greene wrote in a response on X. “You mean their deaths fuel...

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) late Thursday called on Congress to impeach President Trump after the president claimed during a primetime address that forces that stole the 2020 presidential election are still at work and threaten the integrity of the 2026 midterm elections. Trump used words such as “rigged and stolen,” “corrupt” and “cover-up” and cited some recently declassified documents to support his alarming claims, though critics in both parties say he still failed to substantiate his central contention that U.S. elections are marred by widespread fraud. “Trump must be impeached for undermining and subverting our free and fair elections,” Markey...

Several Democrats have either been arrested, detained or charged under the Trump administration due to the White House’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin has condemned their treatment, arguing lawmakers are being assaulted without reason. “Elected officials are being arrested for doing their jobs,” Martin wrote in a Wednesday statement on social platform X. “Once again, the Trump administration is silencing people who disagree with them in broad daylight.” Here are Democrats who have been recently apprehended by law enforcement: NYC Comptroller Brad Lander Sen. Alex Padilla Rep. LaMonica McIver Judge Hannah Dugan Newark Mayor...

President Trump on Sunday shared a video calling for “hardcore communist ********” to be deported, notably naming New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D). Conservative pundit Michael Savage’s 49-minute-long video, which he posted on July 4, claims that democratic socialist candidates running as Democrats have been turning the U.S. into a socialist country through, for example, the launch of “free” programs. Savage claimed the country was turning into Cambodia under the dictator Pol Pot. “That is exactly what Mamdani and the Democratic Socialists will do to you,” Savage said. “Forget the smirks, forget the smiles, forget the bull— that it’s...

The sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) will have ripple effects on the GOP agenda in the coming weeks, as Washington mourns one of its most outspoken dealmakers and defense hawks. Graham had risen to become one of the most influential voices among Senate Republicans since he was first elected to the chamber more than 20 years ago, becoming a top ally for President Trump. The senator’s office announced Graham died Saturday evening from a “brief and sudden illness” at the age of 71. Preliminary findings from the Washington, D.C., chief medical examiner revealed Graham is believed to have...